System Center Essentials 2010 will be Microsoft’s second release of their IT systems management product specifically designed for the midsized business.
The key addition in the new version of Essentials is the integration of physical AND virtual server management and monitoring within a single console.
The Systems Center Essentials 2010 Console
Microsoft provides the obligatory marketing-speak description of the new Essentials pack:
Essentials 2010 provides a unified solution with a single console for managing a broad range of tasks across servers (virtual and physical), clients, hardware, software, and IT services for a unified experience. It also enables proactive management of the IT environment, helping keep systems up-to-date with a solution that accelerates problem resolution and enables automation of system updates and data collection.
This 5-minute video is worth checking out as it explains what to expect in the new unified console, it’s actually pretty slick:
The Essentials 2010 product isn’t available for purchase just yet, but in the meantime, you can download the release candidate here.
Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010 Release Candidate System Requirements:
Supported Operating Systems:
- Windows Server 2003; Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-Bit x86); Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 editions; Windows Server 2008; Windows Server 2008 R2
Recommended requirements for the System Center RC:
- 2.8 GHz or faster processor(s)
- 4 GB of RAM
- 20 GB of available hard disk space (1 GB on the system drive); 150 GB of available hard disk space if planning virtualization management
Essentials console only:
- 1.0 GHz processor
- 512 MB of RAM
