Being small doesn’t mean your desires should also be small. It’s for your small- and mid-sized business that Microsoft has developed Small Business Server. Now, even small organizations can seek high-end solutions like E-mail, a collaboration portal, a domain, etc., hitherto enjoyed only by the big businesses. Even if you are a smaller shop of 5 to 25 people, you can enjoy the high-end features without the complexity and cost that typically go along with them. All thanks to Microsoft’s Small Business Server Hosting!

Speaking about Microsoft Small Business Server, its newer version,  is something we can’t miss on—Small Business Server Aurora—an easy to manage file server and hub for your business with cloud links. With Aurora, Microsoft has divided the Small Business Server Solution into two fractions. On one side is Aurora and on the other side is Small Business Server 7, which is the conventional, on-premises solution that has been used by the organizations for years.

So how are Windows Small Business Server Aurora and Small Business Server 7 different from each other?

• Windows Small Business Server 7 is one of the three new server offers, coming from Microsoft, alongside Windows Home Server product. On the contrary, Aurora is a” hybrid cloud/on-premises small-business server, which is based on Windows Home Server that dispenses with the bundled server products.

• SBS 7 is the descendant to Small Business Server 2008 that is built on Windows Server 2008 R2 with Microsoft Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010, etc. for small businesses that want to host their own technology. Aurora will also help small businesses by providing hosting solutions but with minimum system requirements, viz, a 2GHz x64 CPU, 2GB of memory and at least one 160GB hard drive.

• Small Business Server Hosting 7 proffers on-premise email and collaboration suite functionalities that Aurora’s customers can add through online services.

• Microsoft Small Business Server Aurora is very much a essentials server that focuses on centralized PC backup and storage, while SBS7 is a direct successor to today’s Small Business Server solutions.

• SBS 7 cannot be upgraded to Aurora, but they can evaluate the SBS7 upgrade, which, according to Microsoft, will provide “advancements in security, reliability, and connectivity technology.”

• Aurora is perfect for those smaller businesses that may already be utilizing Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS)

Aurora’s flexibility and ease of use might be a blow to other versions of Small Business Server but with the updates to SBS 7, it’s interesting to know that users can expect a lot from both the products simultaneously. If you have 5 to 25 PCs in your environment to manage, you may want to opt for Aurora. Beyond that there will be SBS7, and once you top 75 PCs, you’ll need full versions of Windows Server to meet your needs.