The new edition is obviously aimed at rival Red Hat Inc’s [RHAT] Enterprise Linux ES Basic Edition, its lowest-priced Linux for servers, and is also targeting the same customers as Microsoft Corp [MSFT] is shooting for with its new Small Business Server 2003, which will start shipping any day now.

SuSE Linux Standard Server 8 will run on any uniprocessor or two-way server built from 32-bit Intel Pentium or 32-bit AMD Athlon processors.

The standard edition of SuSE Server 8 is aimed at print, file, and email serving. It can also be set up with SAMBA Windows clone print and file serving and can be used as a Windows domain controller.

The standard edition of SuSE Server 8 will sell for $449, which includes one year’s support. SuSE’s Enterprise Server 8, which spans to eight-way SMP servers, sells for $749 including a year’s support.

Red Hat’s Linux ES Standard Edition, which can run on machines with up to two X86 processors with up to 8GB of main memory, costs $799.

This edition has Red Hat Network online tech support as well as telephone support during business hours. The Linux ES Basic Edition costs $349, but only offers the Red Hat Network support. SuSE’s Linux Standard Server 8 costs essentially the same as the Red Hat Linux ES Basic Edition, in that the maintenance support includes online and Web-based support but not telephone support.

SuSE is not just going after Red Hat with the new standard server. It is also chasing the current and future Windows Small Business Server 2003 installed base.

Windows SBS 2003 is a stripped-down, integrated, simplified version of the Windows stack that is aimed at smaller companies with small IT budgets and little or no IT staff. It comes in two flavors. The standard edition includes the Windows Server 2003 operating system for print, file, and application serving. Microsoft’s Windows SharePoint Services instant messaging and collaboration software is bundled in, as is Exchange Server 2003, the new e-mail and calendaring server.

Microsoft also tosses in a Shared Fax Service, which lets company employees share a single virtual fax machine, running on the SBS box.

The premium edition of Windows SBS 2003 adds Microsoft’s Internet Security Accelerator Server, its Office FrontPage 2003 Web development tool, and a license to the SQL Server 2000 database. SBS 2003 standard edition costs $599, including the cost of five Client Access Licenses. The premium edition will cost $1,499 with five Client Access Licenses.

Both SuSE and Red Hat think that they can make a credible economic case to small and midsized businesses for choosing an entry Linux implementation instead of Windows SBS 2003, which is just now becoming available in the OEM server channel.

Red Hat is getting ready to ship Version 9 of its Linux stacks later this month, and SuSE will start shipping Linux Standard Server 8 starting in November. The race is on.

This article was based on material originally published by ComputerWire.