NEW YORK, June 17, 1998 — Market momentum for the Microsoft®
Windows NT® Workstation operating system version 4.0 continues to skyrocket in 1998. Customers are purchasing almost 200 Windows NT Workstation licenses every hour, resulting in over 15 million Windows NT Workstation licenses sold to date, which represents a 36 percent increase in the past seven months alone. In addition, PC manufacturers are seeing an increase in demand for PCs preconfigured with Windows NT Workstation. Customers are requesting the security and reliability of Windows NT Workstation with such frequency at Micron Electronics Inc. that it was distributed on over 50 percent of their desktop PCs.
“Windows NT Workstation has come a long way since its introduction, and customers are asking us to provide it more than ever,”
said Mark Gonzales, vice president of worldwide marketing at Micron Electronics.
“We are proud to be able to ship Windows NT Workstation on more than half of our desktop line, providing our customers with the hardware and software they require for their business solutions today.”
One of the key reasons for the increasing customer demand is the tremendous hardware support available for Windows NT Workstation 4.0. There are device drivers available for approximately 6,574 key PC hardware accessories such as display adapters, PCMCIA modems and network cards. This number represents a 63 percent increase in device support since Windows NT Workstation 4.0 was launched in July 1996.
“We are seeing a new round of customer acceptance and deployment of Windows NT Workstation on the standard business desktop,” said Yusuf Mehdi, director of marketing for Windows® at Microsoft Corp.
“With the maturing of hardware device support and a notable increase in PC makers preinstalling Windows NT Workstation, it’s never been more clear that Windows NT Workstation is the business desktop of choice.”
New System Preparation Tool Eases Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Deployment
Microsoft today also announced the System Preparation Tool for Windows NT Workstation 4.0, which will provide an easy and efficient way for OEMs to preinstall
Windows NT Workstation and for corporate customers to simplify deployment in a networked environment. Once the disk is prepared, customers can use a variety of third-party utilities to easily install Windows NT Workstation 4.0 on multiple systems. This tool is currently in beta testing, with final availability planned for this summer.
Companies like PowerQuest Corp. and Binary Research Inc. are excited that Microsoft is providing a product that will ease deployment, lower TCO and improve manageability for OEMs and corporate customers.
“Microsoft’s System Preparation Tool combined with PowerQuest Drive Image Professional will provide our mutual customers with an easy and reliable solution for imaging multiple Windows NT-based workstations quickly and securely,”
said Clark Taylor, vice president of marketing at PowerQuest.
“This offers a solution to customers seeking greater ease and manageability and lower total cost of ownership.”
“We are thrilled Microsoft is providing this utility,”
said Murray Haszard, president of Binary Research.
“It is just what the industry has been asking for.”
For more information on the System Preparation Tool, please see http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ .
Microsoft Advises Customers Regarding Operating System Choice
Microsoft has created a new white paper,
“Choosing the Best Windows Desktop Platform,”
describing Microsoft’s operating system deployment recommendations for business desktops today and through the next few years. Corporations that are looking to migrate to a version of the Windows operating system but aren’t sure which operating system to choose because of specific configuration concerns should refer to the
“Choosing the Best Windows Desktop Platforms”
white paper available on the Web this week at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ .
PC Industry Demonstrates Support for Windows NT Workstation
This week, in the Microsoft Partner Pavilion at PC Expo (Booth 2646), leading PC manufacturers are demonstrating innovative solutions based on Windows NT Workstation 4.0, including notebooks and business desktop PCs. Companies demonstrating Windows NT Workstation 4.0-based notebooks at PC Expo include Compaq Computer Corp., CTX International Inc., IBM Corp., Micron and Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. These solutions give users the performance, reliability and security of Windows NT Workstation, on the road or in the office, and allows corporations to deploy Windows NT Workstation homogeneously across their organizations.
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.
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