REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 29, 1996 — Microsoft Corp. this week will release the broad public beta of Microsoft® Internet Information Server 3.0, for download from http://www.microsoft.com/iis/. Internet Information Server 3.0 makes it easier to build server-based Web applications and to create rich and dynamic content. It also includes support for multimedia streaming, enhanced dynamic indexing and improved site management for corporate intranet and Internet sites.
“Customers told us that writing powerful and robust Web applications with today’s tools is extremely difficult,”
said Jim Allchin, senior vice president of the desktop and business systems division at Microsoft.
“IIS 3.0 is a breakthrough for writing new Internet client/server applications, allowing novice and experts alike to write rich Web applications. IIS 3.0 adds a unique language-independent approach that separates business rules from display generation with Active Server Pages.”
”
Customer demand for this technology is unbelievable – we’ve seen more than
75 percent of sales of Windows NT® Server 4.0 resulting in IIS implementations,”
said John Flowers, senior vice president of engineering, Network Imaging Corp., a recognized world leader in content and storage management.
“We’re convinced that Active Server Pages in IIS will enable customers to build multimedia Web-based business solutions in ways they never before dreamed possible.”
IIS Momentum Building
Market momentum for Internet Information Server also continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. According to Netcraft, a United Kingdom Internet consultancy ( (http://www.netcraft.com/survey/) , IIS has an installed base of more than 45,000 sites on the Internet and is chosen by a ratio of 2-to-1 over Netscape servers. Over 500 new IIS sites come online each day. Momentum on intranets is also growing. According to a Microsoft survey of 220 organizations evaluating Windows NT Server 4.0, 75 percent of them plan on using IIS.
Enhancements in IIS 3.0
Previous versions of Microsoft Internet Information Server established a reputation for speed, ease of operation, and unparalleled integration with Windows NT Server. IIS 3.0 extends this functionality and introduces the following new features:
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Active Server Pages. Formerly code-named
“Denali,” Active Server Pages allows organizations to combine HTML, scripts and components to rapidly build powerful Web-based applications. Active Server Pages includes support for Visual Basic,® Scripting Edition and JScript and is compatible with any active scripting engine, including Perl, Rexx and Python or other CGI-based languages. Additional built-in functionality includes easy Web access to enterprise-quality databases such as Microsoft SQL Server
™
from the Web with wizards, browser capability detection, content navigation and application state management components. -
Microsoft NetShow. NetShow provides an open software platform for delivering live and on-demand multimedia content over the Internet and corporate intranets. It provides live multicasting of audio and data, and on-demand streaming of stored audio, video and
“illustrated audio”
(audio synchronized with images, URLs and scripts) multimedia content. It includes highly efficient
“streaming media”
engines that scale to thousands of users. In addition, NetShow supports the ActiveMovie
™
Streaming Format, which provides advanced multimedia authoring and synchronization. -
Microsoft Index Server 1.1. Microsoft Index Server 1.1 is a built-in search engine that provides full-text or property-based searches, hit highlighting and retrieval of all types of information, in any format including HTML, Office or text documents. The index is dynamically updated when documents change, and security is tightly integrated with Windows NT.
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FrontPage
™
97 Server. The FrontPage 97 Web authoring and management tool server extensions offer one-button publishing and graphical site management tools to keep information organized. It is also fully integrated with FrontPage 97 for the desktop. -
Java
™
VM
(virtual machine). Java VM is included so users can run Java-based components on the server.
Strong Early Feedback on IIS 3.0 Beta
Already, more than 20,000 developers, including corporate developers, solution providers, Internet content providers, Internet solution providers and strategic partners, have beta-tested IIS 3.0, which allows them to build custom turnkey solutions that work with any Web browser. Developers beta-testing IIS 3.0 include Agents Inc., Digital Foundry Inc., Fidelity Investments, Netobjects Inc. and Wall Data Inc. IIS 3.0 is compatible with a wide variety of third-party tools that include the Microsoft Visual Basic programming system, Borland IntraBuilder and Delphi, Powersoft PowerBuilder and Micro Focus Visual Object COBOL.
Availability
The Microsoft Internet Information Server version 3.0 beta is scheduled to be available for download later this week on http://www.microsoft.com/iis/. IIS 2.0 continues to ship as part of Windows NT Server 4.0; IIS 1.0 for Windows NT Server 3.51 is also available at http://www.microsoft.com/iis/.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft, Windows NT, Visual Basic, ActiveMovie and FrontPage are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems Inc.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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