THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS "DIVA"

Looking forward to more and more info, migration from 2003, costs, etc... Would like to hear how cloud services could be worked into/with the new SBS 7 server too.

BV

What will be the upgrade/migration method from SBS2008?  

Pete

Microsoft needs to remember that we all don't live in America with nice consistent Internet connections that support a good 'cloud' experience.  I have a horrible feeling that this might be the last version of "good old SBS".

I was wrong about the next version being virtualized.

"Microsoft needs to remember that we all don't live in America with nice consistent Internet connections that support a good 'cloud' experience. "

Neither does Susan. :-)

Hope they will allow us to run our own clouds and connect customers with Aurora to it.

P.S. Doesn't it seem that they run out of available codenames and try to re-use some older ones?

I am one of those that is very hesitant about cloud services.  I don't like the idea of having to pay for something to be hosted that could be hosted in an office on the SBS server for free.

Plus there is the possibility of losing an internet connection and not being able to work.  Of course I'm speaking from paranoid ignorance and haven't read deeply into it.

I have to agree with Paul. Also a lot of business policies need to catch up with the cloud (namely compliance departments that won't allow cloud storage of data, no matter how encrypted).

Paretners need to continue to be vocal with Microsoft that all cloud all the time is not what we need (a balanced approach is what we need).

"a lot of business policies need to catch up with the cloud (namely compliance departments that won't allow cloud storage of data, no matter how encrypted)."

There's a reason that many companies haven't switched over to cloud computing - hosting providers haven't done enough to earn the trust of regulatory agencies and customers to host their data offsite.

"I am one of those that is very hesitant about cloud services."

Hesitation comes with any new form of technology that promises to be somehow better.  That hesitation is normal.  Ask a lot of questions regarding my above statement.

"Microsoft needs to remember that we all don't live in America with nice consistent Internet connections that support a good 'cloud' experience. "

We have clients that move out to the country "to get away from it all".  That also includes any form of high-speed internet connection - so we're talking dial-up here, and BAD dial-up on unmaintained phone lines, often getting no more than 24kbps, but often LESS!  There is no cable out in the country, satellite access is being discontinued because of operating costs, cellular data access is horribly expensive in Canada (even if you can get 3G access out in the country) and the ground-based long range WiFi services are few and far between.  Yet they still complain about not having good Internet access.

There's just nothing you can do about it, really, although if you try to run a business that has a solid, fast internet connection as a requirement, I'm reminded of of the wise man that once said "you gotta go where the money is".

"I don't like the idea of having to pay for something to be hosted that could be hosted in an office on the SBS server for free."

The on-site servers cost money for purchasing and maintenance too.  If you're leasing systems, moving to the cloud might seem to be a more relevant switch.  Do your pricing homework though.  Weigh the pros and cons too.

"Plus there is the possibility of losing an internet connection and not being able to work."

Failures can happen anywhere and at any time, whether that be a faulty network or internet connection, or server hardware failure.

If your on-site server houses all of your data, but a network card dies, is that much different than your internet going down and you can't access your cloud service?

"Of course I'm speaking from paranoid ignorance and haven't read deeply into it."

I think the most prominent issues with cloud services are trust/compliance issues, and relative cost.  I'm sure I don't have to discuss the trust issues as thats been worked to death already - if you cant trust anybody else, don't get them to host your data for you.  I've run through the numbers multiple times based on actual client data, and I'm not sold on the idea that cloud computing will save you money over time.  In fact, my own numbers show the opposite, even under critical downtime, and considering maintenance.

I guess it's a decent approach to have a Cloud (Aurora) and non-cloud (SBS 7) version of the next SBS products.  

For those that have businesses in rural areas with limited access, don't touch Aurora.  Simple as that.  

Aurora is very welcome. We have been offering for some time now BPOS + Windows Server 2008 R2 (with AD, file sharing and remote access) instead of SBS 2008.

Aurora is more like the Foundation server and SBS 7 is more like the old SBS plattform...