Windows Server 2012 Crosses RTM Milestone

Initial hardware and software vendors have received the code for Windows Server 2012 already last week. Microsoft also said that the updated server OS will be made available to volume licensing customers "in the next couple of weeks."

General availability for purchase is scheduled for September 4. Microsoft will be hosting an online launch event on the same day.

Windows Server 2012 will be released in four editions - Datacenter ($4,809), Standard ($882), Essentials ($425) and Foundation (OEM only). The Foundation release is limited to a maximum of 15 users, while the Essentials package supports up to 25 users. The Standard and Datacenter are subject to volume licensing plans and scale in the number of user accounts.

Wolfgang Gruener is a contributor to Tom's IT Pro. He is currently principal analyst at Ndicio Research, a market analysis firm that focuses on cloud computing and disruptive technologies, and maintains the conceivablytech.com blog. An 18-year veteran in IT journalism and market research, he previously published TG Daily and was managing editor of Tom's Hardware news, which he grew from a link collection in the early 2000s into one of the most comprehensive and trusted technology news sources.

See here for all of Wolfgang's Tom's IT Pro articles.