• Home
  • Consulting
  • Contact Us
    • About this site
    • Contact Wayne
    • Media Room
    • Wayne’s Bio

SBSFAQ.COM

Supporting IT Pro's & MSP's since 2000

  • Blog
  • FAQs
  • Reviews
  • Downloads

What’s next for SBS and SBS customers and resellers?

July 8, 2012 by Wayne Small 12 Comments

Well as announced this last week, SBS as we know it is dead.  Understandably, resellers are up in arms over being blindsided by Microsoft with this discontinuation of the SBS product (with up to 75 users) as we have known it for years.  But were they really blindsided or did they fail to read the signs?  There’s a few things that I want to focus on in this blog post

Microsoft Cloud Vision

Steve Ballmer back a few years said something along the lines of “we’re all in for the cloud… and if you are not on-board then we’re not the vendor you want to partner with”  I guess that people thought this was simply rhetoric.  Most resellers didn’t see the writing on the wall for many of the products within the Microsoft stable.  Essential Business Server v2 was the first to fall in the march towards the cloud.  Most didn’t realise that SteveB was in fact driving the company down a specific path regardless of if the user base wanted that or not.  SteveB is the one here that has made those decisions.  SteveB is the one pushing his team to build products for markets that are not ready for them yet.  If you want to shout and scream at someone, then SteveB at Microsoft.com is the person to do it to, not the SBS team.  The SBS team are a great bunch of people that are doing the best they can to build a product to his definition of the SBS market.  Sadly, I feel that the death of SBS as we know it is premature. 

The Reseller Channel

SteveB wants to crush the competition, but I fear that he will do so at the expense of many many resellers.  But maybe those resellers weren’t really the partners that Microsoft wanted in the first place.  Maybe it’s been part of the plan all along to move to the cloud so that Microsoft could weed out the resellers that were not “worthy” of taking to the next level.  Maybe it’s a good thing – either way though I feel it creates some level of distrust between Microsoft and the reseller channel that will be hard to overcome.

Am I worried about MY business in the SMB Industry?  Heck no.  I’ve always strived to build solutions for clients that fit their business requirements.  It just happens that SBS has filled that need for 15 years now.  It means that I like many others need to retool myself and rehone myself on other products and technologies so that I can build solutions for my clients needs.  I will survive – of that I am sure.  Sadly however I feel for other SMB resellers.  Those that built their business around just ONE product.  They will also have to retrain themselves.  The sad part about this is that whilst they may have the desire, they may not have the cash flow in the current global economy to do so in a timely manner.  For them it will mean closing up shop.  They will blame Microsoft for this, and to an extent they are valid in that view.  I wonder if Microsoft took this into consideration when they made this decision?

Our Customers

I also feel for our customers.  With this change, I believe that Microsoft are doing themselves and the client base a disservice.  I feel they are going to lose potential customers with this “all in for the cloud” vision because in many cases, the pipes that connect the clients to the cloud are just not up to standard… and won’t be for a few years.  The Internet connection for most clients is the biggest single limiting factor.  Microsoft have failed to take this into account that the here and now speeds and reliability are not up to it.

Another point I worry about is the wide variety of solutions that customers will be exposed to.  With SBS being around for so long now, it was a pretty much certainty that when we walked into a new customer they’d have SBS.  We could easily pick that up and run with it.  Now, I hear talk of people looking at various Linux solutions as well.  That’s a concern in the long run as I fear customers will have poorly implemented solutions by relatively untrained resellers.  The customers won’t have as much choice then when it comes to choosing a reseller that can support their solution.  The end result of this is that resellers will either need to skill up on the various Linux alternative solutions out there as well as the Microsoft offering or they will need to just focus on one type of solution.  Either way, I’m not sure that this is good for the customers.

The Community

The community was once very strong around SBS.  Sadly over the last few years, there’s been quite a softening overall of the community spirit.  A certain degree of apathy has grown and continues to grow within the community.  People relying on a few people to do the grunt work and then always taking, not giving back which was the main reason I got into this space to begin with.

The community will survive too – but it will be different.  It already IS different.  It will be one where information is not so readily shared.  Where information will be sold more so than given… or if given will be given amongst a select few within the confines of the various groups have have sprung up as a result of the community fracturing.  Who is to blame for this?  Honestly – the community is.  The community has not gotten behind things the way they could have.  The community has gotten soft and seriously has not contributed the way they should have.  But people will blame Microsoft for it.

My Prediction

Back in 2010, when Microsoft were building SBS 2011 Essentials & SBS 2011 Standard, I made a prediction to some of my MVP buddies.  I told them that I would be very surprised if Microsoft didn’t in fact not produce an SBS 2011 Standard given their focus on the cloud.  I envisaged that Microsoft would make SBS a role that you added to your Windows Server product.  Looks like I was out by a version but essentially this is what we’ve got now.  I fully don’t expect there to be a future version of Window Server 2012 Essentials either – it will be as I describe – a role that is added onto the full product.

The Solutions

Can we build solutions on Windows Server 2012 Essentials?  Sure we can. I lament the fact though that those solutions will be built only to suit 25 users.  We can use normal products beyond that and the associated costs with them.  This is a thing that SMB businesses must carry.  Alternates to the Microsoft stack are there.  Kerio for one makes a decent mail system and we’ve been working with it for some time.  I’ll be seeing what we can do to incorporate Kerio more into potential future solutions as well.

I’ve not done the numbers yet, but there may well be a good case for actually building a 50 user solution based on Windows Server 2012 Essentials and then morphing it up to a 50 user solution.  It looks as if the added cost will only be around $425 USD which is the cost of the base product.  Time will tell.

The End Game

Ultimately the end game here from my perspective is to build a solid business helping SMB Clients overcome their business problems with IT solutions that are both enduring and cost effective.  Whilst I might have a personal issue with the cloud in some aspects, it does not stop me from acknowledging that in the right circumstances, the cloud is a great solution.  It does not stop me building my own cloud solutions for our clients.  It does not stop me recommending the cloud where it’s appropriate for a clients needs taking into account business risk/return.

None of this stops me from looking at what is left of the Microsoft solution stack and building great solutions for my customers using it as I have done in the past.  None of this stops me from using not just Microsoft products, but products from other vendors as well to build those solutions.  Nothing stops me from learning new products and new ways to do this.

None of this stops you either.  We’ve had our pity party, now let’s get our butts into gear and move on.  Microsoft have made their decisions. Microsoft won’t change.  We will.  We will and we will be stronger for it.  We will survive!

I’ll be doing blog posts in future about how we can use Windows Server 2012 Essentials to build solutions for our clients business needs.  Stay tuned!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Future Products, SBS, Windows Server 2012 Essentials

About The Author

Wayne has been working with Microsoft Server products in the SMB market for over 20 years. He has a passion for technology and been a Microsoft MVP for over 15 years. Read More…

Comments

  1. David Mackie says

    July 8, 2012 at 1:16 pm

    Why boher with essentials? Surely the cost saving isn’t worth the limitations and the risk of it being he next product dumped

    Reply
    • Wayne Small says

      July 8, 2012 at 2:02 pm

      David – my point being I’m looking at all options and despite my sadness about SBS as we know it going away, looking to see what we can do with what we have. After all, we are IT consultants and our job is to provide the best possible solutions for our clients. 🙂

      Reply
  2. ian thomas says

    July 8, 2012 at 5:36 pm

    I guess the cross-comparisons I would be asking about – from a SMB / SME point of view – would be price and capabilities of today’s SBS solutions, vs tomorrow’s Server 2012 Essentials + Office 365 (with and without the mail service from Microsoft).

    From a SMBiT provider point of view, the same cross-comparison is relevant. Ease of provision and maintenance, income streams, etc would be the relevant differences.

    Forget the nostalgia for SBS ?

    Reply
  3. Kelly says

    July 18, 2012 at 6:58 am

    Essentials is a POS. No VM licences is enough to put me off the product. I haven’t built a MS Physical server in two years. I do nothing but VM. No hyperv either, I use essentials Vmware. Why bother with this crappy product you can easily convince the customer to go 400 dollars more for a descent OS and cost of Licences. Then there will be no stupid hacks to add exchange at a later date. With SPLA licencing its much cheaper then microsoft cloud. Lots of customers run 5+ years on sbs server. I calculated the costs of O365 to be cost prohibitive. On top of that lots of people can’t or will not go into cloud for various reasons.
    To top it off o365 is POS imho, tremendous amount of time is required to convert onsite to cloud solution. Its proven unreliable when a simple leap year bug takes down the entire Azure bs cloud it doesn’t inspire confidence. Can you imagine if your organization lost two days worth of productivity? Costs of ISP datacaps is another good reason not to go to the cloud. No offline Mode unlike google apps. Google apps is cheaper and it has offline mode unlike 0365.
    Frankly I feel SteveB is offering me a bag of sh!t and telling me its roses.
    I am not suprised he is the most hated CEO in the IT. He has and is a complete muppet.

    Reply
  4. Furniture Stores In Mesa Az says

    February 2, 2014 at 1:28 pm

    It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button!
    I’d without a doubt donate to this outstanding blog!

    I guess for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account.

    I look forward to fresh updates and will share this site with my Facebook group.
    Talk soon!

    Reply
  5. cloud smb says

    April 5, 2014 at 3:56 pm

    Hi, I do believe this is a great blog. I stumbledupon it 😉 I may revisit yet again since i have
    book marked it. Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and continue to guide other people.

    Reply
  6. Laura says

    June 5, 2014 at 5:20 am

    Do we call these companies as the pioneers for sunless tanning technology
    or are they merely innovators who added their own ingredients in perfecting the technology for their own specific purposes.
    As technology progresses, cab companies continue to do
    all they can to keep up and to incorporate new equipment into their vehicles.
    Judgement how technology works can be a dispute for some while for others it can be to some an enjoyable blame.

    Reply
  7. Ask says

    August 23, 2014 at 8:31 pm

    It is not my first time to pay a visit this web page, i am visiting this site dailly and get good
    data from here daily.

    Review my webpage: Ask

    Reply
  8. room gets says

    August 31, 2014 at 8:52 am

    Excellent goods from you, man. I have take note your stuff prior to and you’re simply too fantastic.
    I actually like what you’ve got here, certainly like what you are saying and
    the way through which you say it. You’re making it entertaining and you
    still care for to stay it smart. I can not wait to learn far more from you.
    This is really a great website.

    Reply
  9. reviews of bondage equipment says

    September 7, 2014 at 3:33 pm

    Greetings I am so thrilled I found your site, I really found you by mistake, while I was searching on Digg for
    something else, Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to
    say many thanks for a marvelous post and a all round thrilling blog
    (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through it all at the moment but I have bookmarked it and
    also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I
    will be back to read a great deal more, Please do keep
    up the superb jo.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Search

Connect Online With Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Reviews

Splashtop – Cost Effective Remote Control Software

September 22, 2017 By Wayne Small 2 Comments

Western Digital DL4100 NAS

March 3, 2015 By Wayne Small Leave a Comment

SBS 2011 Configuring Certification Guide (70-169)

August 7, 2012 By Wayne Small 4 Comments

Site News

Exchange Bug Stops Mail Delivery in 2022

January 2, 2022

Huge bug found in Intel CPU that could permit hackers to steal your data

January 4, 2018

Recent Posts

  • MS Exchange Zero Day and RemotePowerShell Disabling on Admin accounts
  • Setup changes for Exchange 2016 and Exchange 2019
  • Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard Randomly Stop Responding
  • Exchange Bug Stops Mail Delivery in 2022
  • How to open and search extremely large text log files

Tags

Antivirus Backup Business Focus Cloud Computing Community Conferences Disaster Recovery Exchange 2010 Exchange Server Future Products Hyper-V Installation Microsoft Migration Patches Personal Rants SBS 4.5 SBS 2000 SBS 2000 SP1 SBS 2003 SBS 2003 Premium SBS 2003 R2 SBS 2003 R2 Premium SBS 2003 R2 Standard SBS 2003 SP1 Premium SBS 2003 SP1 Standard SBS 2003 Standard SBS 2008 SBS 2008 R2 SBS 2011 SBS 2011 Essentials SBS 2011 Standard Security Service Packs ShadowProtect SMB Community Software Software I use StorageCraft Training TrendMicro Troubleshooting Virtualisation Windows Server 2012 Essentials

Terms of Use

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in