Dec 14, 2010 11:19 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has wrapped up the next version of an offering designed for small businesses with less than 75 employees.

On December 13th, 2010, the Redmond company revealed that it has released to manufacturing Windows Small Business Server 2011.

Both Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard edition and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Premium Add-on have RTM’d, but this does not mean that small businesses will be able to grab the bits at the present.

In fact, customers will have to exercise their patience a tad longer, as Windows Small Business Server 2011 will only become commercially available in early 2011.

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard packages a few server products from the software giant, offering security, remote access, and management capabilities.

According to Curtis Lee, Director, Server and Cloud Marketing at Microsoft, the product provides small businesses with:

“•A great way to manage email with the powerful new Microsoft® Exchange Server 2010 SP1. Securely access and manage your communications—e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging, and more—from virtually any platform, Web-browser, or device.

•A powerful collaboration suite with Microsoft SharePoint® Foundation Services 2010. Enable your employees to access and share your business documents with exciting features and capabilities that help you collaborate securely online—no matter where you are.

•A rich platform to run your business applications. SBS 2011 Standard allows you to take advantage of the vast library of applications compatible with Windows Server 2008R2 technologies.

•A simple installation/migration path to limit your downtime. SBS 2011 Standard has been designed to simplify the experience of upgrading or installing a new server.”

In addition, Microsoft advises customers that need the extra elbow room necessary to run a large number of applications to turn to Windows Small Business Server 2011 Premium Add On, if SBS 2011 Standard doesn’t do the trick.

With the Premium Add-on, small businesses will be able to leverage SQL Server 2008 R2 for Small Businesses for scenarios involving apps requiring a centralized database and shared user information.

At the same time, the Premium Add-on enables customers to also take advantage of solutions including Hyper-V and Remote Desktop Services, on top of what’s available with Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard.

“We are finalizing international versions, delivering the product to distribution channels and handing it off to our OEM partners so that they can begin pre-installing the software on new servers. Starting in early January, you will find SBS 2011 Standard and Premium Add-On in volume licensing, and from mid-January you will be able to download a trial copy from our website,” Lee added.