Windows 2000 The Wait is Over - Company Business and Marketing - Software Review - Evaluation

ENT, Feb 9, 2000 by John Enck

Windows 2000, originally known as Windows NT 5.0, was in development for nearly four years. During its gestation, the feature set of Windows 2000 was a moving target: Features were dropped over the years, such as Active Platform; features were reduced in scope, Active Desktop for example; and some features were added late, like Remote Administration. With the formal product release finalized and ready for launch this month, Windows 2000 is no longer a moving target. IT organizations can now pursue the issue of when -- and in some cases if -- they should implement Windows 2000 technology.

Family members in the initial Windows 2000 release include the Professional, Server, and Advanced Server iterations.

Windows 2000 Professional supports up to two CPUs and 4 GB of memory. Windows 2000 Server supports up to four CPUs and 4 GB of memory. Windows 2000 Advanced Server supports up to eight CPUs and 8 GB of memory. It also includes two-node clustering and TCP/IP load balancing.

Additional family members that are expected to be released after the initial Windows 2000 launch include Datacenter Server, Embedded, and Appcenter Server.

Windows 2000 Datacenter Server supports up to 32 CPUs and 64 GB of memory. It also includes four-node clustering, TCP/IP load balancing, Job Object management, and Winsock support for high-speed server interconnects.

Windows 2000 Embedded is a version of Windows 2000 that can be customized by OEMs for incorporation in turnkey products.

Windows 2000 Appcenter Server is an add-on offering targeted at improving the monitoring and management of distributed, multitier application environments.

Scope of Change

Windows 2000 is the largest single development project that Microsoft Corp. has undertaken. In terms of code size, GartnerGroup estimates that Windows 2000 Professional has 28 million lines of code behind it, and Advanced Server has 32 million. In dollar terms, GartnerGroup estimates Microsoft invested about $2 billion into the research and development of Windows 2000.

Windows 2000 also will be the focus of Microsoft's largest marketing effort to date. Microsoft is depending on market acceptance of Windows 2000 for financial success, to be sure, but also to establish a new computing foundation for future operating systems and applications. IT organizations will feel immense pressure from both inside and outside their enterprise to move to Windows 2000.

To establish a new computing foundation, Windows 2000 enlisted some dramatic changes from its predecessor Windows NT 4.0. Many of the alterations are so dramatic that they involve fundamental infrastructure changes, therefore requiring IT organizations to adopt new policies, new procedures, and new ways of thinking about client/server and server/server relationships.

The key building blocks in the Windows 2000 computing foundation are Active Directory, security revisions, a new desktop management infrastructure, new storage management capabilities, integrated Terminal Server, COM+, scalability improvements, and uptime improvements.

Active Directory (AD) is a structured repository for security and management information that provides a single administration point, but it also provides a structure that can be distributed across multiple servers for both efficiency and redundancy. AD is the long-term replacement for NT domains. In the short term, AD can coexist with NT domains in mixed-mode operation so IT organizations can manage the pace and scope of migration. In general, AD provides a structure that is more scalable and suitable for enterprise-class networks. The directory service, however, is new technology that needs to be proven in real-life situations.

In the area of security revisions, Windows 2000 introduces Kerberos as an authentication protocol in conjunction with AD, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificates integrated with AD for Web-based authentication, Smart cards to provide an alternative to keyboard-input passwords, and an Encrypted File System (EFS) to provide file system level data protection. Kerberos is a long-term replacement for the NT 4.0 LAN Manager (NTLM) authentication protocol, but Windows 2000 still supports NTLM authentication. Support for NTLM in the Windows 2000 server packages is critical because older client operating systems -- such as Windows 9x or Windows NT Workstation -- do not support Kerberos.

The technology Microsoft has implemented in the desktop management infrastructure area is intended to ease the burden of desktop administration. In particular, the IntelliMirror set of features includes on-demand application delivery to the desktop, application repair, and online/offline synchronization for server shares. IntelliMirror works in conjunction with a new application installation methodology -- Windows Installer -- that monitors all aspects of software installation. To get the full benefit of the desktop management changes, organizations must adopt Windows 2000 on the desktop, Windows 2000 at the server level, and implement Active Directory.