As Support Winds Down, Windows NT Users Are Fair Game

by Alex Woodie

Microsoft managed to upgrade almost half of the Windows NT 4 Server installed base during the fiscal year that just ended in June, it reported last week. That means there are still 2.1 million Windows NT 4 servers running around the world, and with security patch support slated to end December 31, there is an ample opportunity for Microsoft, as well as its competitors, namely Linux-loving IBM, to take a piece of the NT 4 server upgrade pie.

Depending on where you sit, the rate of Windows NT server upgrades over the last 12 months can be looked at as a good thing or a bad thing, according to Paul Flessner, senior vice president of Microsoft's server platform division, who gave a keynote address at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto, Ontario, last week.

"Forty-six percent of the NT servers were upgraded in fiscal year 2004, so we took that number from 3.9 million NT 4 servers on the planet down to 2.1 million. And that's a very positive thing for everybody," Flessner said. "There are 2.1 million NT 4 servers still left on the planet, and that's a bad thing, from our perspective. Many of those are Exchange 5.5; many of those replacements will include Active Directory. You will see a lot of momentum this year in the field around NT 4 replacement to Windows Server 2003."

Big Blue is also expecting to see a lot of momentum around Windows NT 4 and Exchange 5.5 replacements. Last week it launched a new bundle of e-mail server software, called Domino Messaging Express, which is based on the full Notes Domino 6.5 platform and installs on OS/400, Linux, AIX, Solaris, zOS, and Windows servers. The software, which is intended to be used as a replacement for Exchange server, integrates with Active Directory and allows users to keep their Outlook e-mail clients, as well as any other standards-based client.

IBM is hoping to attract the NT 4/Exchange 5.5 crowd by offering a 50-percent discount off the cost of Domino Messaging Express licenses, bringing the cost down to $48 per user; there is no per-server fee. To further woo the dissatisfied Microsoft customers, IBM is also throwing one year of free maintenance into the deal.

For customers who are considering replacing Exchange and who already have Outlook clients, this pricing is better than Microsoft's list price, which is $67 per user for a client access license (CAL) to Exchange Server 2003. In addition, Microsoft charges $699 for Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition, and users will also need to purchase a license for Windows Server 2003 at $999 a pop. (It should be noted that straight apples-to-apples comparisons are hard to come by here, because Microsoft provides Outlook clients with Exchange CALs, while IBM charges an additional $70 to $140 per user for the Lotus Notes client software, if they don't already have it).

Just the same, Microsoft, which has the biggest pile of cash in the IT industry, isn't going to be out-priced by its main competitor in messaging, IBM, which has the most revenue of any company in the IT industry. Last week, in his keynote, Flessner said Microsoft will be offering $600 in incentives to U.S. customers who purchase Windows Server 2003 and 50 CALs. The incentives will be good for onsite partner support and implementations, and there will be similar promotions offered around the world, he said.