In a move which was quite bold, Microsoft today announced that it would be discontinuing the Essential Business SKU of the Small Business Server line of Windows Server products. While the product was targeted to small businesses, Microsoft noted that they are trying to streamline their portfolio, leaving only the Standard edition left in the Small Business Server product line.
For those interested, or unsure of what Essential Business Server was, it was a suite of tools and services, bundled with Windows Server 2008 Small Business Server, it included Exchange Server and management tools, while the lower SKU only included a limited set of tools, and Exchange Server.
Windows Essential Business Server will cease to be sold as of June 30, 2010, and support will continue until the end of its lifecycle.
“This decision not to ship future versions of EBS does not come lightly and will not impact any other Windows Server products and solutions, including the next version of Windows Small Business Server,” Microsoft said Friday. “We are working hard to build the next version of SBS and look forward to a second decade of success with this award winning small business offering. There is a tremendous amount of talent and expertise on the EBS product development team and Microsoft is committed to transitioning members of the EBS product team to work on other projects within the Microsoft Server and Cloud division.”