Microsoft Again Postpones Delivery of Windows .NET Servers

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Officially, Bob O'Brien, group product manager for Microsoft's Windows .NET Server division, says the delay has to do with performance tuning on the four Windows .NET Servers. While extra time will give Microsoft that opportunity, no one believes this is the real reason for the delay. Given that faster and faster processors are available, Microsoft almost certainly is less concerned with performance and simply wants to make sure that the .NET Framework, which is designed to make the links between computers and applications more transparent and liquid, does not inadvertently introduce security risks that hackers can exploit. Microsoft stopped all software development at the company a month ago to closely scrutinize security issues in Windows desktop and server operating systems and their associated programs. This may have caused the delay, and it seems likely that Microsoft has built similar bug and security hunts into its development process from here on out. This would be akin to the regular clock stoppages that NASA builds into rocket launches, which give everyone a little breathing room to check things out as part of the process instead of causing delays in the launch.

Windows .NET Server, which was developed under the code-name "Whistler" and was known as Windows 2002 for a while before taking its current name, was originally slated for the October 2001 timeframe. At the end of March 2001, Microsoft pushed Whistler deliveries out to the first half of 2002. Now the delivery of Windows .NET Server Release Candidate 1 (RC1) is expected sometime this summer--perhaps in August or September. The number of Release Candidates for Windows .NET Server will depend on customer feedback, and the product could actually slip into late 2002 or early 2003, depending on how Microsoft and its customers feel about the product.

Such a delay has positive and negative ramifications. On the positive side, Microsoft will be perceived as doing better than usual in making its products secure, stable, and efficient. However, it will keep products that may or may not have that label--specifically, Windows 2000 Server editions--in the field for a longer time than most customers may want. On the whole, if Microsoft is taking its time and making Windows .NET Server a more secure and robust product, no one can slam the company for that. If this is what is behind the delay, then it is well worth it in the long run--no matter what the cost to its marketing message or revenue and profit streams.

In November 2001, Microsoft announced the third and final beta of Whistler in four different versions-- Windows .NET Web Server, Standard Server, Enterprise Server, and Datacenter Server. The Web Server edition is optimized for Web serving jobs, as the name suggests. Standard Edition is aimed at two-way entry servers (like the Windows 2000 Server), and Enterprise Server is aimed at four-way and eight-way servers (like Windows 2000 Advanced Server). Datacenter Server supports 8-way, 16-way, and 32-way symmetric multiprocessing. Windows .NET Server is expected to be delivered on 32-bit Pentium III and Pentium 4 server processors (both regular and Xeon flavors), as well as on current 64-bit "Merced" Itanium and next-generation "McKinley" chips.

The delay of Windows .NET Server is probably not going to affect iSeries and OS/400 shops any more than it does other consumers of Microsoft server products. But don't get the wrong impression; Windows certainly matters to OS/400 shops. According to internal IBM information, 70 percent of OS/400 customers say they have a requirement to run Windows servers alongside--and often integrated with--their iSeries and AS/400 machines. The OS/400 base is one of Microsoft's biggest commercial customer bases, and it drives a lot of revenue for IBM, Compaq, Dell, and other Intel-based server providers as well. It is not clear when IBM intends to support the various Windows .NET Servers on its Integrated xSeries Server coprocessors for OS/400 platforms or on xSeries machines attached to iSeries and AS/400 servers. It seems likely that IBM will support Windows .NET Web Server and Standard Server on the IxS cards. (IBM may even deliver a dual-processor IxS card alongside the iSeries "Regatta" Power4-based servers this summer, which would be a good thing.) The beefier Windows .NET Enterprise Server will probably be supported only on external xSeries machines. It seems unlikely that IBM will ever support hybrid OS/400-Datacenter Server configurations, though, technically speaking, there is nothing that prevents this.

If you have to cope with the Windows server platform, you should subscribe to Guild Companies, our enterprise Windows and Linux server newsletter. Guild Companies takes the same in-depth, hard-line approach to covering the Wintel/Lintel server market as The Four Hundred does with the OS/400 market. I think you'll find it an interesting read.