Independent Study Highlights Value of Windows 2000 Over Previous Microsoft Operating Systems
REDMOND, Wash., September 9, 1999 — In anticipation of the release of Windows 2000, Microsoft Corp. today announced the results of an independent study, conducted by the Arthur Andersen consulting firm, concluding that Windows 2000 would allow customers using previous versions of Microsoft operating systems to lower their total cost of ownership, in many cases, by consolidating servers, workstations and laptops on a single operating system, and that Windows 2000 Beta 3 is currently robust enough for immediate customer evaluation. By integrating features relevant to Web-enabled business throughout the operating system, and by improving reliability, scalability, usability and management, Windows 2000 creates a platform geared to electronic commerce, as well as improved capabilities in the traditional areas of network operating systems, departmental line of business computing and end user computing.
Microsoft engaged Arthur Andersen to conduct the study over a five month time period. The two papers resulting from the study, one on Windows 2000 Server, and the other on Windows 2000 Professional, evaluated the Return On Investment (ROI) impacts of migrating from previous Microsoft operating systems to Windows 2000. In the study, Windows 2000 Server Beta 3 was evaluated in comparison to Windows NT Server 4.0 and Windows 2000 Professional Beta 3 was evaluated in comparison to Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, Windows 98, and Windows 95. The study was conducted in Arthur Andersen’s labs in a test environment.
There were two key aspects to the study, the first being an evaluation of key features and the second an assessment of the ROI impacts of migrating. The report draws conclusions based on many factors such as the company’s size and the complexity of its existing environment. For many companies, deploying Windows 2000 would result in a positive impact to ROI. The return on investment impact would be diminished for companies who don’t have a dedicated IT staff, or those who already have implemented a highly managed infrastructure with third party solutions.
“Customers today need to know much more than simply the features and benefits of a company’s latest offering; they need to understand its actual business justification before they commit to a thorough evaluation,”
said Deborah Willingham, vice president of the Business and Enterprise Division, Microsoft.
“We are very pleased with the findings of this study by Arthur Andersen, as it will help customers see not only the benefits of Windows 2000, but more importantly, it provides confirmation of the customer value inherent in Windows 2000, and the cost savings organizations can generate by evaluating the product today.”
The independent study conducted by Arthur Andersen was designed to help customers understand the economic and strategic issues as well as the benefits of migrating from previous versions of Microsoft operating systems to Windows 2000 by assessing its potential impact to ROI. Though there are up-front costs associated with migrating, the extent of which depends on the organization, the study indicates that improved functionality in Windows 2000 will, for many organizations, offset those investments, and they will likely see more benefit when Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Professional are both implemented concurrently. The study was based on technology analysis, in-depth scenario tests, complexity considerations and on-site customer interviews.
These are some areas of the study’s key findings:
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Ease of use and reduced costs: Suited for corporate standardization, results indicate that new feature benefits of Windows 2000 Professional such as improved stability, reliable multi-tasking, Plug and Play, enhanced synchronization, and better support for remote users will outweigh implementation costs for many companies. Further gains were realized in the testing procedures when both Windows 2000 Professional and Windows 2000 Server were deployed concurrently.
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Enhanced Reliability and Availability: Enhanced Distributed File System, Clustering Services and a reduction in the number of scenarios that require system reboots or service restarts, to ensure greater system uptime.
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Enhanced System Protection: Improved system file protection and automatic recoverability, as well as support for application recoverability.
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Enhanced Distributed Services:
With the integration of Active Directory, standards-based security and management tools, Windows 2000 will allow many organizations to create and administrate policy better than in previous Microsoft operating systems, and to perform more centralized management and oversight of a distributed environment. -
Enhanced Scalability:
Improved Symmetric Multi-Processing Support, Network Load Balancing and EMA (Enterprise Memory Architecture) as compared to Windows NT Server 4.0. -
Enhanced application support: Integration of a number of services into the COM+ component model enabling integrated web-based applications.
