How much longer left has the Microsoft Small Business Server product go left? With Office 365 and the multitude of hosted emails solutions out there, does Microsoft see no point in carrying on this product line?
Well, there is no official word on this but it has been noticed that the SBS 2008 exam is not longer valid for any certification at Microsoft yet this product is still in life. That has not happened before, so it is either a mistake, which I would never rule out at Microsoft or they are moving away from SBS as they feel SBS people will move to the cloud.
Now SBS Diva knows about these things and it is her blog I reference on this here.
I have a lot of SBS customers and nearly all of them want to keep their data on premise, the reasons are mostly that they have a fear of their data not being close to them, their Internet connection is DSL and therefore cannot be relied upon for business continuity and finally because they are of a generation that bought a server every three years and backup by swapping a tape once a day.
The world of IT is moving faster than it ever has and those that do not move with it will be left behind. I am not saying on premise has had its day but if Microsoft do finish with SBS at 2011 then those who look at cloud as a hybrid solution now will be ones who move with the times.
I know a lot of customers find technology hard to follow and just want that box in the corner and that's it. But they also want 24/7 access on their iPhones, iPad and to work from anywhere. That box in the corner just won't cut it, it barely cuts it now, it will have no chance in a few years.
No comments:
Post a Comment