While Vista Beta 1 is stealing most of the headlines this week, Microsoft also is delivering simultaneously on Wednesday to a select group of private testers the first beta of its Longhorn Server product.
 Microsoft has not yet decided on a final name for the next version of its Windows Server operating system (other than the fact that it won’t be Vista), according to company officials.
But what the company has decided upon is the set of core Longhorn foundation technologies and application programming interfaces for Longhorn Server components. Those elements will comprise the first Longhorn Server beta release.
By the time Longhorn Server ships, which is still expected to happen in 2007, the product will provide the following features and functionality, according to company officials:
Streamlined and task-oriented management
Centralized and filtered event logging
Image-based setup and deployment
Manageable and scalable Web application platform
Increased infrastructure robustness
Network Access Protection
Reduced reboots
Smaller server footprint
Transactional file system and registry
Enhanced Terminal Server management and usability
More sophisticated collaboration
Cross-organizational rights management
Longhorn Server is set to be tested by about 5,000 OEMs, independent hardware vendors, system builders, independent software vendors and partners. The company also will make the Longhorn Server Beta 1 build available to its Technology Advancement program (TAP) customers, as well as to Microsoft’s own internal IT organization.
Beta 2, for which Microsoft has yet to announce a delivery target, is slated to be a public, as opposed to a closed, private beta. At that point, “Microsoft will encourage customers to begin evaluating and providing feedback on the product,” a company spokesperson said.
 Read the full story on Microsoft Watch: Microsoft Delivers the ‘Other’ Longhorn Beta 1
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