Thinking of EBS? Here's a rough cost estimate and some caution for you to consider.
If you are thinking of going with Essential Business Server 2008, here are some numbers to think of while considering it. These are quick "guesstimates" a few of us came up with while discussing it.
$5,000 for the base EBS license
150 x $81 for CALs = $12,510
$15,000 for fixed cost project deployment
$20,000 for server hardware
$52,000 average cost for an EBS deployment
This is why planning and preparation are so important.
EBS is not SBS, both in cost and complexity. If you are an SBS focused admin/consultant and are thinking of going with EBS, that's great. Just make sure you do your homework, both technically by working with the product in a test environment and getting training, and from a business perspective by considering the deployment costs versus business requirements of the company it is being considered for installation into.