In addition to the Beta 1 releases of Windows Vista (codenamed Longhorn) and Internet Explorer (IE) 7 yesterday, Microsoft also released the first beta for Longhorn Server, which will likely be marketed as Windows Server 2007 when it is released (and not as Windows Vista Server). Longhorn Server Beta 1 is a closed technical beta and will not be made available publicly.
While Microsoft declined to publicly discuss Longhorn Server Beta 1 in lieu of a more feature-complete future beta release, the company had previously revealed several features that it intends to ship in the product. These include a new event logging infrastructure, image-based deployment tools, a new version of IIS, Network Access Protection (NAP, originally scheduled for Windows Server 2003 R2), and a new version of Terminal Services.
Longhorn Server is currently locked to the Windows Vista development process, so both products had a simultaneous Beta 1 release. After Beta 2, however, Longhorn Server and Windows Vista development will fork, with Longhorn Server shipping in 2007, several months after Windows Vista.