Microsoft have just released a new add-in for Small Business Server 2011 Essentials. This one is the Windows 7 Professional Pack.
This is what Microsoft posted on their blog today:
Today we are happy to announce that we have released the Windows 7 Professional pack for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Add-In and soon our customers will be able to download it through Microsoft’s Download Center.
One of small businesses’ most pressing needs and requests is advanced security of their IT infrastructure and, when Windows 7 Professional and Windows SBS 2011 Essentials work together, they offer our customers a cutting edge solution to help safeguard the security of their information and the control of their PC’s.
The Windows 7 Pro Pack is a free add-in designed exclusively for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials. It is easy to set up and manage, especially with limited IT skills and resources, and was designed to improve and further the interoperability between these two products, thus providing small organizations with a best of class solution for IT security and protection.
The Pro Pack can be quickly deployed in each Windows 7 Professional computer in the domain from the “Computers and Backup” tab in the Dashboard, and it allows administrators to deploy pre-configured security settings, folder redirection and offline files. The group policies apply to all SBS domain users running Windows 7 Professional or higher.
With the Windows 7 Professional Pack our customers can easily deploy pre-configured security settings across several different areas like allowing Windows Update to install the latest security patches and critical updates, using Windows Defender to protect against malware attacks and preventing users from exposing the network to attack by enforcing the use of Windows Firewall.
Many small business users are also used to working without a server and storing all their business critical and sensitive information on their local computers. This habit increases the risk of losing critical data, should the local computer be lost or should it suffer a critical hardware malfunction. While SBS 2011 Essentials provides full client backup out of the box, this solution may not meet the needs for mobile or laptop users who take the PC’s out of the office. Client backup relies on having the PC on the local domain during the backup window (usually after business hours).
With folder redirection the Pro Pack helps small businesses protect the data stored on their client computers. Folder redirection is designed to allow users to continue working in the same way saving their data in real time on their client computer, but reduces the risk of data loss by having the most important data on a particular computer automatically redirected, stored and protected on the server (when on the local domain). This way, even if the client computer is lost or suffers critical damage, is it still possible to access the latest set of data on the server when the client has not been backed up recently. Best of all, when users edit local data when away from the network, any small business can ensure that when the PC is back on the local network, updated information is immediately replicated to the server and protected.
If you would like to know more, you can find here a video that contains a complete demo of the Windows 7 Pro Pack and shows its easiness of use.
So, if you are worried about your organization’s security, do not wait a second. Connect with one of our tens of thousands of partners worldwide and learn more in detail what Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows 7 Pro can, together, do for you.
Working with Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials
Well you didn’t think I would miss an opportunity to plug my next book would you? I am working together with Charlie Russell and Sharon Crawford on an SBS 2011 Essentials book.
You can pre-order the book from Amazon today.
Your will notice in the video that there is a KeepVault & TrendMicro addin. We have seen KeepVault released for WHS2011, soon we should expect a TrendMicro AV.