Western Digital announced it will be offering a small-office storage server product and has signed an OEM software agreement with Microsoft to include the Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials operating system software.

WD plans to combine its storage technologies with Microsoft's operating system to deliver storage solutions for the small business market. The result will be a product that simplifies connection, protection and collaboration online for small businesses and the information technology services organizations that support them.

"Small businesses will find great value in the combination of WD's hardware solutions and the recently released Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials solution from Microsoft. I am excited about the opportunity we have with WD and their solutions for helping small businesses run more efficiently," said Nick Parker, VP of Worldwide Marketing for the OEM Division at Microsoft.

"By combining Microsoft's platform with WD's strength in the storage market, the two organizations bring extraordinary synergies that boost productivity and efficiency for small business. With this, WD will offer storage solutions for small business that provides centralized, online shared storage capable of meeting the storage requirements of the small business owners in today's fast paced business environment," said Thomas Gallivan, WD's vice president of marketing for SMB branded products.