An ideal server for small businesses, Windows Server 2012 Essentials (the latest version of Windows Small Business Server Essentials) provides a powerful and flexible solution that helps protect your business data while allowing you to access the information you need from virtually anywhere by using almost any device.
Windows Server 2012 Essentials provides easier setup, installation, and migration experiences, a simplified management experience, and better network-wide security features. It incorporates the latest Microsoft technologies for management, networking, data storage and backup, security, and document and printer sharing. Windows Server 2012 Essentials provides integration capabilities for cloud-based applications and services, allowing you the flexibility to choose the best environment for your line-of-business and collaboration solutions.
Windows Server 2012 Essentials allows you to retain core network and security features in your local environments, and also includes technologies to enable robust integration with cloud-based services. This allows end-users to work in ways that are familiar to them, while at the same time making it easier to take advantage of the growing set of offerings available in the cloud through platforms such as Microsoft Office 365 and Windows Azure.
Features
Protect and secure your business
The server’s intuitive user experience and powerful data protection features, such as full client PC backup, can simplify your life and help you focus on your core business. Windows Server 2012 Essentials leverages several new features available in Windows Server 2012 to provide greatly improved data protection capabilities. The new Storage Spaces feature allows you to aggregate the physical storage capacity of disparate hard drives, dynamically add hard drives, and create data volumes with specified levels of resilience. Windows Server 2012 Essentials can perform complete system backups and bare-metal restores of the server and the client computers that are connected to the network—now with support for volumes larger than 2 terabytes. New with Windows Server 2012 Essentials, Windows Azure Online Backup can be used to protect files and folders in a cloud-based storage service that is managed by Microsoft. Windows Server 2012 Essentials also centrally manages and configures the new File History feature of Windows 8 clients, helping users to recover from files that are accidently deleted or overwritten without requiring administrator assistance.
Access your resources from virtually everywhere by using almost any device
Empower your remote workforce with the freedom to work where and when they choose with an Internet connection and web browser. The Remote Web Access feature provides a stream-lined, touch-friendly browser experience for accessing applications and data from virtually anywhere you have an Internet connection and by using almost any device. Windows Server 2012 Essentials also provides an updated Windows Phone app and a new modern app for Windows 8 clients, allowing users to intuitively connect to, search across, and access files and folders on the server. Files are also automatically cached for offline access and synchronized when a connection to the server becomes available. Windows Server 2012 Essentials turns setting up virtual private networking (VPN) into a painless wizard-driven process of just a few clicks, and simplifies the management of VPN access for users. Client computers can leverage a VPN connection to remotely join the Windows Server 2012 Essentials environment without the need to come into the office.
Leverage the power and flexibility of cloud-based services on your terms
Windows Server 2012 Essentials helps you run your business operations, be more efficient, and enjoy competitive advantages by making it easier than ever to use and manage cloud-based applications and services, on-premises applications, or a combination of both. In previous versions, Windows Small Business Server Standard included Exchange Server as a component product, which added expense and complexity for customers who wished to leverage cloud-based messaging and collaboration services. With Windows Server 2012 Essentials, customers can take advantage of the same type of integrated management experience whether they choose to run an on-premises copy of Exchange Server, subscribe to a hosted Exchange service, or subscribe to Office 365.
Monitor the health of your environment
Windows Server 2012 Essentials monitors its own health status and the status of client computers running Windows 7, Windows 8, and Mac OS X version 10.5 and above. Health status notifies you of potential issues related to computer backups, server storage, low disk space, and more. These alerts, and the prescriptive guidance they include, allow you to respond to and correct issues proactively—before they become problems that impact productivity.
