Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard is the most robust
Windows Server operating system to date. It is designed to increase the
reliability and flexibility of your server infrastructure while helping save
time and reduce costs. Powerful tools give you greater control over your servers
and streamline configuration and management tasks. Plus, enhanced security
features work to harden the operating system to help protect your data and
network and provide a solid, highly-dependable foundation for your business.

This product does not include Windows Server Hyper-V.

Windows Server 2008 builds on the success and strengths of its Windows Server
predecessors while delivering valuable new functionality and powerful
improvements to the base operating system. New Web tools, virtualization
technologies, security enhancements, and management utilities help save time,
reduce costs, and provide a solid foundation for your information technology
(IT) infrastructure.

A Solid Foundation for Your Business
Windows Server 2008
provides a solid foundation for all of your server workload and application
requirements while also being easy to deploy and manage. The all new Server
Manager provides a unified management console that simplifies and streamlines
server setup, configuration, and ongoing management. Windows PowerShell, a new
command-line shell, helps enable administrators to automate routine system
administration tasks across multiple servers. Windows Deployment Services
provides a simplified, highly secure means of rapidly deploying the operating
system via network-based installations. And Windows Server 2008 Failover
Clustering wizards, and full Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) support plus
consolidated management of Network Load Balancing, make high availability easy
to implement even by IT generalists.

High Security
Windows Server 2008 is the most secure
Windows Server yet. The operating system has been hardened to help protect
against failure and several new technologies help prevent unauthorized
connections to your networks, servers, data, and user accounts. Network Access
Protection (NAP) helps ensure that computers that try to connect to your network
comply with your organization's security policy. Technology integration and
several enhancements make Active Directory services a potent unified and
integrated Identity and Access (IDA) solution. And Read-Only Domain Controller
(RODC) and BitLocker Drive Encryption allow you to more securely deploy your AD
database at branch office locations.

WHAT'S NEW IN WINDOWS SEVER 2008:

Windows Server 2008 delivers valuable new functionality and powerful
improvements to the core Windows Server operating system to help organizations
of all sizes increase control, availability, and flexibility for their changing
business needs. New Web tools, virtualization technologies, security
enhancements, and management utilities help save time, reduce costs, and provide
a solid foundation for your information technology (IT) infrastructure.

Solid Foundation
Windows Server 2008 provides a solid
foundation for all of your server workload and application requirements while
being easy to deploy and manage. Hallmark Windows Server reliability and
enhanced high availability features help ensure your critical applications and
data are available when you need them.

• Initial Configuration Tasks moves interactive elements of setup to after
  installation, eliminating the need for the administrator to interact with
  the installation of the operating system.


• Server Manager, the expanded Microsoft Management Console (MMC),
  provides a one-stop interface for server configuration and monitoring with
  wizards to streamline common server management tasks.


• Windows PowerShell, a new optional command-line shell and scripting
  language, enables administrators to automate routine system administration
  tasks across multiple servers.

Web
Windows Server 2008 includes improved Web
administration, diagnostics, development, and application tools with Internet
Information Services 7.0 (IIS 7.0), a major upgrade from IIS 6.0. Windows Server
2008 unifies the Microsoft Web publishing platform, including IIS 7.0, ASP.NET,
Windows Communication Foundation, and Windows SharePoint Services.

• Modular design and installation options allow installation of only the
  features needed, reducing attack surfaces and making patch management
  easier.


• IIS Manager, a new task-based management interface, plus a new
  appcmd.exe command-line tool make administration easier.


• Programmatic access to configuration stores through WMA or
  Microsoft.Web.Administration, a new management API that enables editing the
  XML configuration files for your Web server, sites, or applications.

Security
The Windows Server 2008 operating system is
hardened, integrates several identity and access technologies, and includes
multiple security innovations to more easily deploy a policy-driven network that
helps protect your server infrastructure, your data, and your business.

• Security Configuration Wizard (SCW) helps administrators configure the
  operating system for the server roles being deployed to reduce the attack
  surface area, resulting in a more robust and more secure server environment.


• Network Access Protection helps ensure your network and systems aren't
  compromised by unhealthy computers, isolating and/or remediating those
  computers that don't comply with the security policies you set.


• Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) delivers several
  enhancements to the Windows Server 2008 Public Key Infrastructure (PKI),
  including PKIView for monitoring the health of Certification Authorities
  (CAs) and a new, more secure COM control for certificate Web enrollment in
  place of ActiveX.

WHY UPGRADE?

Top 11 Reasons to Upgrade to Windows Server 2008

Microsoft Windows Server 2008, with built-in Web and virtualization
technologies, enables businesses to increase the reliability and flexibility of
their server infrastructure. New virtualization tools, Web resources, and
security enhancements help save time, reduce costs, and provide a platform for a
dynamic and optimized datacenter. Powerful new tools, like Internet Information
Services (IIS) 7.0 and Server Manager, provide more control over servers, and
streamline Web, configuration, and management tasks. Advanced security and
reliability enhancements, such as Network Access Protection and the Read-Only
Domain Controller, harden the operating system and help protect the server
environment to ensure a solid foundation on which to build businesses.

• Server Consolidation and Resource Optimization -- Hyper-V
  - Most servers operate at far below their capacities, with as much as 80 to
  90 percent of their processing power unused, on average. With Hyper-V, the
  Windows Server 2008 virtualization solution, a single physical server can
  host the workloads of multiple Line of Business servers. Hyper-V helps
  organizations to achieve optimal use of their hardware resources and
  provides the agility needed to adapt to changing IT needs


• Flexible Application Access for Remote Users -- TS RemoteApp
  - Windows Server 2008 provides improvements and innovations to Terminal
  Services with solutions, like Terminal Services RemoteApp (TS RemoteApp),
  that allow users to access individual applications, instead of a computer
  desktop in a Terminal Server session.


• Modular, Minimal Installation -- Server Core - Many
  network servers perform specific dedicated and mission-critical roles within
  the network. The new Server Core installation option provides a minimal
  environment for running specific server roles. This helps improve
  reliability and efficiency, giving the IT department the ability to better
  utilize existing hardware. It also simplifies ongoing administration and
  patch management requirements by reducing the need to update unneeded files
  and functionality.


• Delivering Rich Web Content and Applications -- IIS 7.0
  - As Web content gets richer and the Web becomes a viable platform for
  delivering business applications, the Web server is moving to the center of
  many networks. IIS 7.0 delivers solutions for today's demanding content,
  including streaming media and Web applications in Active Server Pages and
  PHP.


• Improved Network Performance and Control -- New TCP/IP Stack
  - The efficient use of bandwidth has a direct impact on the productivity of
  users working in remote locations that rely on WAN connections to the
  organization's central servers. The redesigned "next generation" TCP/IP
  included in Windows Server 2008 provides vastly improved performance in a
  remote location scenario, offering faster throughput and more efficient
  routing of network traffic.


• Preventing Unhealthy Devices from Connecting to the Network --
  NAP - With the increasing number of mobile users and corporate
  partners that must connect to an organization's network, protecting the
  security of that network from outside threats is an ongoing challenge.
  Network Access Protection (NAP) in Windows Server 2008 helps prevent
  non-compliant computers from accessing an organization's network.


• Supporting Business Continuity for Demanding Workloads -- High
  Availability Features - Windows Server 2008 provides increased
  scalability for the most demanding business solutions and helps keep
  businesses operating through unplanned downtime with high availability
  features. With support for failover clusters, Network Load Balancing,
  dynamic hardware partitioning, robust storage options, and advanced
  machine-check architecture, Windows Server 2008 helps safeguard against
  single-point-of-failure problems.


• Enabling Secure Collaboration -- Active Directory Federated
  Rights Management - Companies need to share information with
  partners and clients without losing control over that information. Rights
  Management Services enables organizations to control how documents are used
  -- including who can view them, whether they can be printed, even whether
  they can be forwarded or deleted -- both internally and externally.


• Connecting Heterogeneous Environments - Windows Server
  2008 includes Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA), a multi-user UNIX
  environment that supports more than 300 UNIX commands, utilities, and shell
  scripts. Users can maintain one user name and password for Windows domains
  and UNIX systems, synchronizing the credentials automatically when one
  changes.


• Enabling Top-Shelf Service and Support for Remote Sites
  - Remote sites, such as branch offices, can be an IT challenge. Often, there
  is no local IT staff, making the deployment of software and security updates
  expensive and time-consuming. It can be difficult to enforce security and IP
  standards in a remote site.


• Easing Administration, Management, and Automation -- Server
  Manager and PowerShell - The Server Manager Console provides a
  single, unified console for managing a server's configuration and system
  information, displaying server status, identifying problems with server role
  configuration, and managing all roles installed on the server. Built on the
  Service Modeling Language (SML) platform, Server Manager allows
  administrators to complete tasks with fewer clicks without having to
  navigate between multiple tools and interfaces.