Bringing Windows Server Home
Microsoft made a major foray into the home entertainment market Sunday with
the announcement of the general availability of Windows Home Server. Partners
swarmed around the announcement with a series of related products or complete
systems -- some available immediately, others coming over the next year.
One of the fastest on the draw is Hewlett-Packard. The HP MediaSmart Server,
based on Windows Home Server, was available immediately for pre-order from Amazon.com,
BestBuy.com, Buy.com, CircuitCity.com and CompUSA.com. HP's offering also set
a benchmark on pricing -- about $600 for a 500GB server and about $750 for a
1TB server.
A few companies already have systems ready based on the system builder version
of the software, including Ace Computers, Advantec, PC Club and Universal Systems
Inc.
Two other systems available now are the Tranquil PC T7-HSA Tranquil Harmony
Home Server and the Velocity Micro NetMagix HomeServer. Promising systems before
the end of 2007 are Fujitsu Siemens Computers and Medion Home Server. Iomega
Corp. is committed to shipping systems in early 2008, while Gateway Inc. and
LaCie also have plans to sell Windows Home Server-based systems.
According to Microsoft, there are at least 35 applications for Windows Home
Server from companies including Avira GmbH, Diskeeper Corp., Embedded Automation
Inc., Proxure Inc., SageTV, SightSpeed Inc., Telligent Systems, WiLife Inc.,
avast!, F-Secure, CEIVA, Iron Mountain, Jungle Disk, Lagotek, LobsterTunes,
Raxco Software and Whiist.
Posted by Scott Bekker on November 06, 2007 at 11:57 AM