SuSE Targets SMBs with Linux 8 Standard Edition

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Commercial Linux distributor SuSE announced yesterday that it will begin shipping a cut-down version of its SuSE Linux Enterprise 8 software aimed specifically at small and midsized businesses. The new edition is obviously aimed at rival Red Hat's Enterprise Linux ES Basic Edition, its lowest-priced Linux for servers, as well as the customers that Microsoft is shooting for with its new Small Business Server 2003, which starts shipping any day.

SuSE Linux Standard Server 8 will run on any uniprocessor or two-way server built from 32-bit Intel Pentium or 32-bit AMD Athlon processors. The standard edition of SuSE Server 8 is aimed at print, file, and e-mail serving. It can also be set up with SAMBA Windows clone print-and-file serving and can be used as a Windows domain controller. The standard edition of SuSE Server 8 will sell for $449, which includes one year of support. SuSE's Enterprise Server 8, which spans to eight-way SMP servers, sells for $749, including a year of support.

Red Hat's Linux ES Standard Edition, which can run on machines with up to two X86 processors, with up to 8 GB of main memory, costs $799. This edition has Red Hat Network online technical support, as well as telephone support during business hours. The Linux ES Basic Edition costs $349 but only offers the Red Hat Network support. SuSE's Linux Standard Server 8 costs essentially the same as the Red Hat Linux ES Basic Edition, in that the maintenance support includes online and Web-based support but not telephone support.

SuSE is not just going after Red Hat with the new standard server. It is also chasing the current and future Windows Small Business Server 2003 installed base. Windows SBS 2003 is a stripped-down, integrated, simplified version of the Windows stack that is aimed at smaller companies with small IT budgets and little or no IT staff. Windows SBS 2003 comes in two flavors. The standard edition includes the Windows Server 2003 operating system for print, file, and application serving. Microsoft's Windows SharePoint Services instant messaging and collaboration software is bundled in, as is Exchange Server 2003, the new e-mail and calendaring server. Microsoft also tosses in a Shared Fax Service, which lets company employees share a single virtual fax machine, running on the SBS box. The premium edition of Windows SBS 2003 adds Microsoft's Internet Security Accelerator Server, its Office FrontPage 2003 Web development tool, and a license to the SQL Server 2000 database. SBS 2003 standard edition costs $599, including the cost of five Client Access Licenses. The premium edition will cost $1,499 with five Client Access Licenses.

Both SuSE and Red Hat think that they can make a credible economic case to small and midsized businesses for choosing an entry Linux implementation instead of Windows SBS 2003, which is just now becoming available in the OEM server channel. Red Hat is getting ready to ship Version 9 of its Linux stacks later this month, and SuSE will start shipping Linux Standard Server 8 in November. The race is on.

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