CHICAGO, April 18, 2000 — Tod Nielsen, vice president of the Platform Group at Microsoft Corp., today addressed the Windows® World 2000 and COMDEX/Spring 2000 audience and announced that Microsoft has licensed over 1.5 million copies of Windows 2000 Professional, Server and Advanced Server in the two months since launch, four times the rate of Windows NT® 4.0.
This milestone includes estimates from channel resellers, retail outlets and PC manufacturers but doesn’t include licenses acquired through enterprise agreements from Microsoft’s largest customers around the world. Even with so many customers using Microsoft® Windows 2000, product support volume is remaining low, and the number of support calls per unit is the lowest in the history of Windows operating systems, evidence of the high quality and reliability of the products. In addition, Nielsen announced that the latest data from Netcraft reveals that more than 64,000 Web sites are using Windows 2000 as their hosting solution, surpassing operating systems such as AIX, HP-UX, MacOS and NetWare, and representing more than triple the 20,000 sites that were running the operating system at the launch on Feb. 17.
“To attend an industry trade show such as Windows World/COMDEX and see the degree of innovation that the Windows platform has spurred is overwhelming,”
Nielsen said.
“Windows scales from handheld devices to enterprise data centers and meets the needs of all customers in between, and over 65 vendors are here highlighting the incredible openness of the Windows platform with their own unique, best-of-breed solutions.”
Stratus Raises the Windows 2000 Reliability Bar
Nielsen also announced that Stratus Computer Systems Corp. is the first vendor to offer a Windows 2000-based solution with 99.999 percent hardware availability, which it does on its new Stratus ftServer System announced yesterday at Windows World and COMDEX. The ftServer family is the first fault-tolerant, multiprocessor server guaranteeing customers less than five minutes of downtime in a single calendar year for the Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server operating systems. Customers can get Windows 2000 on Stratus ftServers at a price point approximately 80 percent less than Stratus’ previous entry-level fault-tolerant systems. Businesses of all sizes can benefit from this increased reliability while enjoying the flexibility and outstanding price performance of the Windows platform.
“By offering 99.999 percent uptime on the Windows 2000 platform, Stratus and Microsoft are offering customers previously untapped levels of reliability at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions,”
said Steve Kiely, president and CEO of Stratus Computer.
“The ftServer Systems deliver many first-of-a-kind features to meet the exploding demand for uninterrupted computer processing, particularly in Internet and business-to-business e-businesses.”
Windows as the Business-to-Business Platform
In addition, Nielsen highlighted how the Windows DNA 2000 platform, with Windows 2000 as its cornerstone, is helping to invent new business models in the process-manufacturing industry. Sequencia Corp., the leading supplier of responsive process manufacturing solutions for intranet and Internet business-to-business (B2B) collaboration, has created process Point.com to help Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMOs) such as Eastman Chemical Co. integrate with Product or Brand owners such as Eli Lilly and Co. During the demonstration, Nielsen showed that process Point.com, built on the Windows DNA 2000 platform, including BizTalk TM and XML, helps Lilly solicit a contract bid to help develop its next generation of pharmaceuticals. Eastman and Lilly connected through procesPoint.com, and Eastman accepted the bid to produce the Lilly product. Nielsen stated that the process of submitting the request for proposal and the ensuing bid transaction used to take about two weeks. By using process Point.com to accelerate the change-management and execution process, the bid and receive process was narrowed to five hours.
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By using process Point.com, we’ll be able to reduce the process of contract negotiations to a fraction of the time it used to take. In the process-manufacturing industry, every minute we can reduce from our customer development time saves us an average of $10,000,”
said Robert Hornsey, vice president and general manager of the Fine Chemicals Division, Eastman Chemical.
“process Point.com and Windows DNA 2000 could save us millions of dollars by simply automating our procedures. The potential impact could be as far reaching as reducing the amount of time it takes to bring helpful new pharmaceuticals to market.”
“Windows 2000 is the leading platform for business-to-business e-commerce and was the only choice for process. We are extremely excited to help the process-manufacturing industry change the way it does business,”
said Bob Pape, president and CEO of Sequencia.
Windows DNA 2000
Nielsen also outlined the role of Windows DNA 2000, Microsoft’s platform for building and deploying Web solutions including intranet, extranet, commerce (e.g., B2B, B2C) and other Internet-based applications. Windows DNA 2000 enables extremely fast time to market for building and deploying Web applications, which can interoperate and integrate with existing applications, partners and customers, and future data and devices. In addition to Windows 2000, other components of the Windows DNA 2000 platform include the Visual Studio® development system, SQL Server TM , the COM+ component and programming model, and other application services – all best-of-breed products that utilize the deepest developer talent pool and third-party market in the industry. The Windows DNA 2000 platform is the fast, easy path to developing and deploying serious applications for the Business Internet.
Windows for Consumers
Demonstrating the scale of the Windows platform, Nielsen also showcased the advancements for home users in the forthcoming edition aimed at consumers. Windows Me will improve the home user experience in the digital media and home networking space with features such as System Restore, which enables users to reset their system to a previous state should they encounter any problems during operation. Windows Me is also set to deliver to home users the latest Windows Media TM Player with advancements in the gathering, playing and sorting of digital media. Finally, Nielsen described how Windows Me will simplify networking the home with an improved Home Networking Wizard.
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