Windows Server 2003 shows enterprise mettle

Security, scaleabilty, reliability and performance are the watch-words from Microsoft for its Windows 2003 Server, launched last month. Add to those doing more with less, and you’ve got the Microsoft picture. This is not just an upgrade of Windows 2000; it’s the firm’s effort to reinforce its position in the serious, big league corporate, ‘mission critical’ business computing space – and to put flesh on the bones of its .Net vision. The results are productivity, connectivity, economics and business and manufacturing agility gains. Already, the giants, like Hewlett-Packard and Fujitsu Siemens Computers, are marching alongside, with associated hardware releases and, although few believe there’s going to be massive sudden take-up, there’s no doubting the future. The technology and business messaging is absolutely right. Steve Douglass, senior technology consultant at Microsoft, says, for example, that on performance, Windows 2003 is up two- to 10-fold, providing an excellent server consolidation opportunity. “It offers a significant payback with today’s eight-way boxes for file serving and web use.” And in terms of scalability, we’re looking at offerings from the entry level Standard Edition and Web Edition for IIS (Internet Information Services) up to 64bit Data Centre for massive, high availability, high resilience, secure 24/7 business operations. It’s a similar story for everything else. Active Directory, for instance, is now easier to deploy, manage and use, with many holes for which it’s been criticised now sorted – like no services to manage at remote sites and no complete rebuilds for mergers and acquisitions. Beyond that, it’s got the Microsoft .Net framework, now at v1.1, for building web-based applications and services of the future, and there’s wireless connectivity much more advanced remote access security, better administration tools and so on. As for the costs, Douglass reckons users can expect up to 40% total savings over Windows 2000 installations. Putting the usual jibes aside, reception for the new entrant has been good. Roy Sharples, head of IT at the new CEME (Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence) learning institute at Ford, Dagenham, for example, says he’s building his futuristic IT infrastructure on Windows 2003 server. “We needed to be able to support a wireless LAN providing any information, any time, any device. We wanted web services to stream video in real time. We needed 24/7 operations with clustering and resilience. And we needed a stable infrastructure, that’s very scaleable, future-proof and with low overheads and admin.” That project started 18 months ago, and the institute is due to open in September. Sharples comments that most organisations and businesses still view IT as a cost rather than an opportunity, but that his system, running on the new platform, will provide the foundation for “ground-breaking” learning experiences in manufacturing and engineering. He likens the approach to lean operations in manufacturing itself, geared to minimising cost and waste, while promoting innovation and profitability. . “We anticipate more efficiency than we could have got with Windows 2000 in terms of network management and administration and the system’s availability – as well as the technology to deliver our advanced learning services."