Microsoft rolled out the red carpet for midmarket companies at its Worldwide Partner Conference 2005, being held in Minneapolis this weekend, debuting a Windows software and licensing package called the Windows Server System, aimed at making it easier to implement basic Microsoft infrastructure software.Also at the show, Microsoft will unveil a new version of its Open License Program aimed at midmarket customers, John Lauer, vice president of midmarket in the small, midmarket, and partner solutions business at Microsoft, told IDG News Service. The changes will “resonate” with customers in this space, which Microsoft defines as those with between 50 and 1,000 employees, Lauer told the News Service’s Elizabeth Montalbano. Steven Van Roekel, Microsoft’s director of midmarket solutions for Windows Server, acknowledged that Microsoft’s software licensing leaves midmarket customers “in the vortex” where they end up paying more than enterprise customers and small business customers for the Microsoft infrastructure they need to run their businesses. “What tends to happen with the midmarket is [the companies] aren’t large enough to take advantage of the preferential enterprise pricing, but they can’t take advantage of small business pricing,” he said. Promotions like the new Windows Server System Offer are designed to alleviate some of those licensing woes, Van Roekel said. The new promotion runs for a year and includes three copies of Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, one copy of Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition, one copy of Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 Workgroup Edition, and 50 client access licenses (CALs) each for Windows Server and Exchange Server, Van Roekel said. The bundle is priced at about $6,400, a 20 percent discount from Micro-soft’s standard Open License Program pricing of $7,700, he said. Customers also can purchase more combined CALs for Windows and Exchange for about $76 each during the promotion, which is also 20 percent off the regular price of $95, Van Roekel said. Companies must have a CAL for each user that is connected to the servers. The maximum number of CALs a company can purchase through the promotion is 250, he added. Microsoft has three main software licensing programs: Open, Select and Enterprise Agreement, Lauer said. Enterprise Agreements are targeted at high-end customers with the largest volume requirements; Select licenses allow customers with 250 or more PCs to customize their software purchases with lower volume requirements than the Enterprise level; and Open licenses offer customers with five or more PCs the lowest number of licensing requirements, along with volume discounts. Microsoft said that customers and partners have been requesting a new Windows Server System SKU for midmarket customers because the licensing for Microsoft’s Small Business Server (SBS) leaves a lot of them out, as it limits the number of computers connected to it to 75, Van Roekel said. To help customers and partners implement the promotional software system, Microsoft will launch a new technical Web site at the partner conference that will provide information for customers and partners specific guidelines and information to set up the software for midmarket customers, Van Roekel said. The new site goes live Thursday and can be found at www.microsoft.com/technet/midsizebusiness. Technology Industry