Windows Small Business Server 2008 has been released to manufacturing. This in the context in which Microsoft was dropping the first public preview of the Windows Server 2008-based products in Release Candidate 0 stage at the end of May 2008. With the code for both the Standard and Premium SKUs of Windows Small Business Server 2008 having gone gold, Microsoft will continue with wrapping up the two products for the official launch in a little over two months.

"Both SBS Standard and Premium are being released to manufacturing, which means we begin the process of finalizing international versions, creating media, building packaging, delivering the product to distribution channels and handing it off to our OEM partners, so it will be widely available by our November 12 launch. (More information about launch will come in the future)," stated Dean Paron, group program manager, Windows Small Business Server.

Windows Small Business Server 2008 is the brand umbrella for a pair of offerings geared towards small businesses. The Standard edition is a bundle of technologies including: Windows Server 2008 Standard, Exchange Server 2007 Standard, SharePoint Services 3.0, WSUS 3.0, Forefront for Exchange, Windows Live OneCare for Server. The Premium edition brings to the table the same components as the Standard SKU, plus the Windows Server 2008 Standard technologies for SBS Premium, SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition for Small Business.

"Development of SBS 2008 has been a big effort here at Microsoft and the software has undergone extensive testing within Microsoft, by our partners, private tech beta participants and our Technology Adoption Program members. We are proud to say we have truly heard and incorporated input from our partners and customers throughout product planning and development. As a result, we feel very confident that this new release builds on the success of SBS 2003 R2 and makes the power of enterprise IT accessible and affordable for small business, helping them increase productivity and grow. And, just as important, SBS 2008 provides solution providers with a great platform to meet the needs of their small business clients," Paron added.