ORLANDO, Fla., May 4, 1997 — Today at its Solution Provider conference, Fusion ’97, Microsoft Corp. announced Microsoft® Site Server, a new member of the Microsoft BackOffice
™family of products built on the Windows NT® Server network operating system and Internet Information Server. Microsoft Site Server makes it easy for organizations to enhance, deploy and manage sophisticated intranet and Internet sites. Microsoft Site Server will be available in two editions: Microsoft Site Server and Microsoft Site Server, Enterprise Edition. The Enterprise Edition contains additional features that enable customers to commerce-enable and manage large Web sites easily.
“Businesses are looking for solutions that minimize the complexity of managing intranet and Internet sites,” said Jim Allchin, senior vice president, personal and business systems group at Microsoft. “Microsoft Site Server delivers a comprehensive solution focused on maximizing the return on Web site investments.”
Site Server Provides Solution for Rich Intranet Sites
Microsoft Site Server 2.0 provides customers with three major capabilities, designed to meet key requirements at each stage of the Web site life cycle:
Personalize and Enhance a Site
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Easily deliver personalized Web content to users based on individual preferences and profiles
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Rapidly build or enhance a site, easily creating dynamic Web applications using the integrated Microsoft Visual InterDev
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Web application development system, which makes it easy to create database-driven Web sites
Deploy Content Robustly
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Replicate content reliably, securely and efficiently within a corporation or across the Internet, from a staging server to a production server, or to mirror servers (Note: Replication of content requires one or more additional Site Server licenses.)
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Enable users to post Web pages to a server easily
Manage and Analyze a Web Site
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Analyze usage data from server log files. Generate a comprehensive set of pre-configured analysis reports in popular formats such as HTML, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and plain text that provide detailed information about site activity. Analyze over 20 log file formats, including Internet Information Server and Netscape and Apache servers
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Actively and efficiently manage a Web site running on Windows NT Server or UNIX, easily visualizing sophisticated sites, analyzing content, identifying broken links and generating HTML management reports
Enterprise Edition Provides Solution for Advanced Internet Sites
Microsoft Site Server, Enterprise Edition 2.0 provides customers with additional capabilities, including rich commerce and advanced usage analysis functionality, as integral features of a comprehensive package for advanced, enterprise Web sites. With it, they can do the following:
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Commerce-enable a Web site, creating an advanced Internet presence from which a business can promote and merchandise goods and services to consumers or conduct transactions with business partners. Quickly create stores or catalogs for locally or remotely hosted environments. Manage online display and merchandising of electronic catalogs. Process orders online, using integrated tax, shipping and handling, and payment functions. Integrate online order processing with existing business systems. Embed support for transactions in most any online context, such as online banner ads.
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Conduct in-depth analysis of usage data from server log files. Generate pre-configured analysis reports or build custom reports for mining usage data to uncover important insights about site activity. Analyze data from log files of multiple servers. Classify and integrate additional data sources with site usage data to get a more meaningful profile of user behavior
Increasing the Business Value of Intranet and Internet Sites
Microsoft Site Server enables organizations to apply best practice capabilities to a site that increase its business value and maximize return on investment by doing the following:
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Personalizing content so that it is targeted and relevant to individual users
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Integrating database connections into a Web site to support dynamic applications and scalable usage
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Testing content on a staging server, then replicating it to a production server
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Following an overall process of continuous improvement in which a site is built, deployed, analyzed and revised based on insights into usage
“We’ve been looking for a way to centrally deliver intranet content while decentralizing content creation,” said Ed McDonald, chief architect, information technology department, Texaco. “Microsoft Site Server gives us the power to professionally manage our intranet.”
“Marriott’s key strategy centers around customer loyalty, and we believe the features in Microsoft Site Server will help us understand how to provide value to our customers in a way that will keep them coming back,” said Mike Pusateri, vice president, interactive sales and marketing at Marriott Corp.
“Microsoft Site Server has features that have become key to our Internet strategy,” said Bobby Wilkins, systems engineer at Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. “It reveals details about our site and its use that we could never view before.”
Pricing, Availability and Distribution
Microsoft Site Server 2.0 and Microsoft Site Server, Enterprise Edition 2.0, currently in beta, are scheduled to be broadly available this summer. Prerelease versions of the software are scheduled to be available for downloading and evaluation in mid-May. Microsoft Site Server 2.0 will be available for approximately $1,499. Microsoft Site Server, Enterprise Edition 2.0 will be available for approximately $4,999; additional commerce sites on a single server will be approximately $499 per site.
Microsoft Site Server 2.0 and Microsoft Site Server, Enterprise Edition 2.0 will be available through the Microsoft Solution Provider channel. Nearly 13,000 Microsoft Solution Providers apply technologies to business challenges in 49 countries around the world together with 115,000 Microsoft Certified Professionals with expertise in designing, implementing and supporting solutions using Microsoft products and technologies.
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, BackOffice, Windows NT and Visual InterDev are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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