ISA 2004 and SBS 2003

Derek Brown, the Director of Product Management for Microsoft was kind enough to post to the smallbizit Yahoo group about the integration of ISA 2004 and SBS. It certainly appears that there might be a cost to update to ISA 2004 with the included SP1 for SBS. That may not be all bad from what I hear about the new features and all. Below is the Q&A he posted:

Q: Can I obtain ISA 2004 as soon as it's shipping and install it on
SBS 2003?

A: Yes you can buy an additional ISA 2004 license, however because ISA
is integrated (either ISA 2000 or ISA 2004) into the SBS 2003s setup and management tools (Configure Email and Internet Connection Wizard, plus
others) changes to those wizards are required to take full advantage of ISA 2004. These updated wizards will ship as part of SBS 2003 SP1. For SBS 2003 premium edition customers, we are not offering an upgrade to ISA 2004 outside of the SBS 2003 SP1. Note that ISA 2004 will continue to be in the premium edition only.



Q: When will SBS 2003 SP1 ship?

A: SBS 2003 SP1 is planned to ship shortly after Windows Server 2003
SP1, and will include all of the service packs for the SBS server components (Exchange, Outlook, SharePoint, and Windows XP) and ISA 2004 in the premium edition only. Windows Server 2003 SP1 is planned to ship at the end of 2004. Customers and partners should check the SBS download page at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/downloads/default.mspx
for the most recent status of updates, component service packs, and critical fixes for SBS. This page always will have the latest set of updates & fixes that should be applied and will include server component updates (Exchange, XP, Outlook & etc).



Q: Will SBS 2003 SP1 including ISA 2004 be made available free to
existing premium edition customers?

A: Pricing, and packaging for SBS 2003 SP1 has not been announced.
Individual service packs to SBS 2003 components (Exchange, Outlook, SharePoint, and Windows XP) will be available for download free of charge, also these service packs can be installed directly on SBS 2003 without waiting for SBS 2003 SP1. More details will be available later this year as the ship date for SBS 2003 SP1 comes closer. Customers and partners should check the SBS download page at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/downloads/default.mspx
for the most recent status of updates, component service packs, and critical fixes for SBS. This page always will have the latest set of updates & fixes that should be applied and will include server component updates (Exchange, XP, Outlook & etc).



Q: How do I obtain ISA 2004 before SBS 2003 SP1 ships?

A: To obtain ISA 2004 before SBS 2003 SP1 ships, customers will need to purchase a separate ISA 2004 license. We strongly suggest that SBS 2003 customers wait until the details of SBS 2003 SP1 have been announced later this year. Today we have not announced timing, pricing, and delivery for SBS 2003 SP1, which is not due until the end of this calendar year.



Q: Will ISA 2004 run without breaking SBS 2003?

A: Upgrading SBS 2003 premium edition by installing ISA 2004 server over the top of the ISA 2000 component will work as expected, however this upgrade will disable the SBS networking wizards (Configure-email-and-internet-connection wizard, Configure-remote-access wizard, Change-server-IP-address wizard, and others). Our customers tell us that these SBS simplicity wizards add significant value, and that they would not be interested in upgrading immediately to ISA 2004 without these wizards.