REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 5, 1999 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that over 100 customers have already deployed the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Advanced Server operating systems on production systems in their organizations. Corporations such as Data Return Corp., Siemens, Banyan Worldwide and CenterBeam Inc. are deploying Windows 2000 now to help drive business efficiency and to invest in a platform that enables long-term growth, expansion and flexibility.
“These companies are betting their business on Windows 2000 – that’s a commitment we take very seriously. So we won’t ship the product until our early adopters tell us it’s ready,”
said Brian Valentine, vice president, Business and Enterprise Division at Microsoft.
“It has to be reliable enough that these companies can run their business on it day in and day out. By working closely with these customers throughout the beta time frame, Microsoft receives a higher degree of real-world testing and feedback, on everything from application compatibility and interoperability to setup and configuration issues, before the product ships.”
One early adopter, Data Return Corp., is betting its application hosting business on Windows 2000-based servers. Data Return is a business-critical Internet, intranet and extranet hosting services provider built using Microsoft solutions on more than 450 Compaq ProLiant servers. Data Return serves customers of all sizes, ranging from small startups to Fortune 500 giants worldwide.
“We are really excited that the applications we host for our customers are compatible and operate reliably with Windows 2000,”
said Jason Lochheart, vice president of Research and Development at Data Return.
“The reliability of our Windows 2000-based servers in a cluster environment is terrific. We have increased uptime compared to using Windows NT® Server 4.0. In virtually every respect, Windows 2000 has consistently outperformed Windows NT 4.0. The performance and manageability improvements are so substantial that we migrated datareturn.com to a Windows 2000-based cluster over two months ago.”
Siemens has deployed Windows 2000 Professional on more than 1,800 PCs and Windows 2000 Server across 200 production servers, and it attributes its successful deployment to the knowledge transfer that took place between it and Microsoft during the evaluation phase.
“Participation as an early adopter and tester has been instrumental in the successful implementation of Windows 2000 for Siemens,”
said John Minnick, manager of Technology Development, Siemens.
“Being an early adopter of Windows 2000 has been a terrific learning process for both Siemens and Microsoft.”
Banyan Worldwide, a leader in directory-based consulting and systems integration services to Fortune 1,000 companies, has found Windows 2000 to be a reliable and stable platform. Banyan Worldwide is focused on integrating its customers’ Web-based applications with the Windows 2000 Active Directory TM directory service to decrease network administration costs.
“We are already realizing the benefits of Windows 2000 distributed services, enhanced reliability and ease of use,”
said Scott Kitlinski, chief information officer for Banyan Worldwide.
“We are putting Windows 2000 through rigorous testing, and we are very pleased with the results.”
CenterBeam Inc. provides small businesses with complete IT outsourcing services and solutions and manages its business through Windows 2000. Remote manageability is a critical component in assuring CenterBeam customers that their network and applications are always available.
“Before Windows 2000, it was not possible to deliver the type of solution that CenterBeam has created,”
said Sheldon Laube, chairman and CEO of CenterBeam.
“Even before final code, we’ve found Windows 2000 to be a robust, manageable and stable operating system. It enables us to perform remote management functions that simply weren’t possible before, allowing us to assure our customers their computing needs will be met.”
Customers who want to take advantage of Microsoft’s next-generation operating system, Windows 2000, can find additional information at http://www.microsoft.com /windows/default.asp .
Customers who want to evaluate Windows 2000 can order it through the Corporate Preview Program (CPP) at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/preview/order.asp.
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.
