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Windows Server 2012 SKUs Revealed

Jul. 5, 2012 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

It looks like Microsoft isn’t just simplifying its Windows client product edition lineup this time around: The Server version of Windows 8, called Windows Server 2012, is also undergoing a nice lineup simplification too. Now, we’ll only have about four SKUs to deal with, a dramatic reduction from the 12 or so we saw with Windows Server 2008 R2.

I first found out about the Windows Server 2012 SKU lineup from Mary Jo Foley, my Windows Weekly cohost.

Microsoft reveals the new lineup via its new Windows Server 2012 Editions page on Microsoft.com.

Small Business Server and Windows Home Server are not mentioned*. But a (not really) new “Essentials” SKU could very well replace both. (It’s more likely that Essentials is simply the new version of what used to be called Windows Small Business Server Essentials 2011, however, and that Microsoft expects customers to replace Windows Home Server with Windows 8, as I wrote about back in March. This much is clear: Windows Small Business Server Standard is dead, as it should be.)

The four Windows Server 2012 SKUs are:

Windows Server 2012 Datacenter. $4,809 per processor + CAL licensing model. Supports unlimited virtualized instances of the product (on the same hardware) as well.

Windows Server 2012 Standard. $882 per processor + CAL licensing model. Supports two virtualized instances of the product (on the same hardware) as well.

Windows Server 2012 Essentials. $425, supports up to 25 users, aimed at small businesses. No virtualization rights.

Windows Server 2012 Foundation. OEM-only (comes with new entry-level servers), supports up to 15 users. No virtualization rights.

So there you go.

*UPDATE: Windows Home Server has been cancelled along with Windows Small Business Server Standard. Windows Server 2012 Essentials is indeed an update to Windows Small Business Server Essentials 2011, and is domain-only, so is not applicable to home users.


Discuss this Article 12

yoshipod (not verified)
on Jul 5, 2012
Funny that there are no comments on the pricing for this. You went out of your way to describe why OS X upgrades should be cheap. Care to try and defend Windows Server pricing compared to Linux servers and OS X server pricing? Seems once again MS is charging a premium over the competition.
illrigger
on Jul 5, 2012
Bye bye, WHS, we hardly knew ya....
illrigger
on Jul 5, 2012
What exactly is there to compare? RHEL pricing is actually more expensive than this, and OSX server isn't in the same league feature and app support wise.
martyus
on Jul 5, 2012
Could you please clarify your comment "This much is clear: Windows Small Business Server Standard is dead, as it should be.)"? My experience with SBS 2003/2011 Standard has been positive. What solution would you recommend for (non-profit/charity) organizations with around 30-40 users that need Windows Domain, Exchange email functionality, Sharepoint, easy/simple server management, have access to only limited Internet connectivity, and low budgets? I am currently upgrading a SBS 2003 installation to SBS 2011 Standard, and for the non-profits/charities I volunteer my IT time to, SBS 2011 Standard makes a lot of sense. Many of these organizations have around 30-35 users - so Essentials is not usable, and even if it were, Office 365 is just too expensive and relies too much on Internet connectivity. With SBS 2011 Standard the (amortized) cost to these organizations is less than $1 per user per month, and to get less functionality with Office 365 they are looking at more than $6 per user per month - a lot more expensive.
martyus
on Jul 5, 2012
Could you please clarify your comment "This much is clear: Windows Small Business Server Standard is dead, as it should be.)"? My experience with SBS 2003/2011 Standard has been positive. What solution would you recommend for (non-profit/charity) organizations with around 30-40 users that need Windows Domain, Exchange email functionality, Sharepoint, easy/simple server management, have access to only limited Internet connectivity, and low budgets? I am currently upgrading a SBS 2003 installation to SBS 2011 Standard, and for the non-profits/charities I volunteer my IT time to, SBS 2011 Standard makes a lot of sense. Many of these organizations have around 30-35 users - so Essentials is not usable, and even if it were, Office 365 is just too expensive and relies too much on Internet connectivity. With SBS 2011 Standard the (amortized) cost to these organizations is less than $1 per user per month, and to get less functionality with Office 365 they are looking at more than $6 per user per month - a lot more expensive.
The Duke
on Jul 5, 2012
No more WHS... :( Confirmed by Server 2012 Essentials FAQ. http://download.microsoft.com/...ver_2012_Essentials_FAQ.pdf
Jon-AITD
on Jul 5, 2012
This is a HUGE screw up on Microsoft's part. They thought they heard some negative comments on removing the SBSC...this is going to be much worse! All of my customers run the Standard or Premium SBS product, either SBS 2003, 2008, or 2011. I'm in the process now of getting some SBS 2003 customers upgraded. Looks like I'll be buying multiple copies of SBS 2011 very soon to prepare for this. I wish Microsoft would realize they are killing a really great product line and many partners will start looking at other vendors now instead of Office 365. Cloud isn't the answer to everything! I like my Exchange on-prem! I liked having everything I needed all in one simple install with SBS Standard. Although they said you can add Exchange to the new Windows Server Essentials 2012, it says it needs to be on a separate box. Killing SBS Standard is just a terrible move!
Jon-AITD
on Jul 5, 2012
I do enjoy your podcasts Paul but the statement "This much is clear: Windows Small Business Server Standard is dead, as it should be.)" isn't coming from someone that deals with small businesses every day, as I do. I think Mary Jo will understand a lot more how big of a blow this is to small solutions providers like myself. I've been using SBS for my ALL of my customers for the last 15 years, the product is great and makes sense for many of the SMBs out there. Cloud isn't the answer to everything as Microsoft thinks.
jksoftware
on Jul 6, 2012
What is microsoft trying to do? It seems to me they only care about profit. Do they even care about the user anymore... It does not look that way.
macfive
on Jul 7, 2012
Microsoft has just signed the death warrant for their largest base of evangelists and for their largest client base and potential client base. Most of my client's cannot afford the 2-3 times increase in cost for the Microsoft alternative to SBS. Most of my clients are in the legal, medical or non-profit segments of the market and cannot or simply do not want to have a public cloud solution or have restrictive bandwidth caps which make it even more expensive or impossible solution. I am a 13 year MCSE veteran so I am not scared off by the Enterprise products but I am no longer going to be pursuing any additional Microsoft certification. I will actively be pursuing alternatives to SBS for a continued on-premise solution. If my client does not have physical control over their own data on equipment which they own in a location they own and secure, they have no rights to their data.
LemonSaucy
on Jul 7, 2012
At those prices looks like DataCenter 2012 will not be going onto too many multi-processor supercomuters! E.g. it would cost $1,078,447,104.00 (USD) - over a billion (!) - to license the Cray Jaguar with its 224,256 AMD processors. lol
Schwartzj
on Jul 8, 2012
<<This much is clear: Windows Small Business Server Standard is dead, as it should be.)>> Is so wrong! You don't understand how many SMB companies that are out there running SBS 2003, 2008 and 2011. Lots of SMB companies don't want to go the cloud and don't have reilable ISP to do 24/7 Internet Connection, Plus Office 365 has limiting feature sets that exchange 2010 does not. SBS 2011 - Server for 30 users with Server = $4458 Aprox for 6 six years. W2K12 Standard Server for 30 users with office 365 for 30 users $6 a month = $3685 for server and client cals + $1296 for office 365! = $16645! Where is this a savings or better product solution! You been working in your own little world and have no clue how many businesses use SBS as a main stay server! The setup time and wizards that come along help SMB owners maintain their own servers and also have SharePoint Server - built-in company Web, Faxing to email, Baremetal restore in 2008,2011 SBS. I am Microsoft partner and SBS Specialist - time to look for another solution that is not microsoft. Your statment is so wrong because you have clue how many business use SBS daily. And SBS is even bigger outside the US with the high price ISP lines and not reilable ISP's!

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