Details and prices of the first home server running Microsoft's Windows Home Server (WHS) software leaked out yesterday, after a product page was posted briefly on several online stores including Amazon.com, and PCMall.com.
According to listings, Hewlett Packard's MediaSmart Home Server will be available to ship on September 15 priced at $599 for the 500GB version and $749 for the 1TB version. Both servers will be powered by a 64-bit 1.8GHz AMD Sempron processor and are equipped with four slide-out drive bays for internal storage, and four USB 2.0 ports for external expansion.
The Windows Home Server platform has received a lot of praise from the online community in the past few months. Microsoft is targeting a market of over 60 million people worldwide that have broadband access and two or more PCs at home, however, some analysts worry that the home networking market is too complex for mainstream consumers, which is why WHS has undergone a dramatic UI simplification in its more than two years of development.
Other manufacturers set on producing servers running Home Server include Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Gateway, Iomega, LaCie and Medion AG. None have disclosed prices or set ship dates, though.