Windows Server 2012 to be out next month

BANGALORE, INDIA: Microsoft will release its Windows Server 2012 in September.

"Windows Server 2012 will be released to manufacturing in the first week of August. The code will be complete and we will begin delivering it to our hardware partners. Then, the product will be generally available to customers worldwide through multiple channels in September, said Jeffrey Snover on the Windows Server Blog.

Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system is also slated for a September release.

Microsoft claims that the pre-release versions of Windows Server 2012 have been downloaded more than 500,000 times already, which is 'more than any other server from Microsoft before', adds the blogpost.

Microsoft will offer four Windows Server 2012 editions, including Foundation, Essentials, Standard and Datacenter.

The Datacenter edition, meant for highly virtualized private and hybrid cloud environments gives full Windows Server functionality with unlimited virtual instances and is priced at $4,809 under Microsoft's Open No Level licensing.

The Standard edition, meant for low density or non-virtualized environments comes with full Windows Server functionality with two virtual instances for $882.

The Essentials edition, meant for Small business environments, has Simpler interface, pre-configured connectivity to cloud based services, but no virtualization rights. This one is priced at $425.

And, the Foundation edition is ideal for general purpose server, but has no virtualization rights. This one will come with a 15 user limit and is avalilable to OEMs only.