REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 23, 2001 — With the Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional operating system set for worldwide availability in just two days, excitement for this much-anticipated release continues to build with more than 150,000 desktops already deployed and more than 1 million more committed to be deployed at enterprises of all types and sizes. In addition, hundreds more corporations have already begun testing and evaluation of Windows XP, further underscoring the benefits of Windows XP for enterprises of all sizes, and building on the 40 million user base of Windows 2000 Professional.
The enterprises adopting Windows XP Professional include corporations, governments and agencies, and educational institutions, including Digex, Jack in the Box Inc, Oklahoma Supreme Court, the University of Texas in Austin, Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., and Microsoft Global Accounts including General Motors Corp., GMAC Commercial Mortgage and Siemens.
“Business customers of all sizes are gearing up to deploy Windows XP, and this major momentum confirms that Windows XP is the best Windows operating system ever for business users,”
said Jim Allchin, group vice president of Windows at Microsoft Corp.
“We’ve heard from our customers that they are deploying Windows XP because it empowers their employees to work smarter and faster, any time and from anywhere, with secure access to business information and because it provides them with new tools to address the specific, unique challenges facing their enterprises.”
“Windows XP Professional is ready for prime time, and we’re fully committed to it,”
said Dustin Sauter, enterprise architect for Wells Fargo and Co.
“Windows XP will allow us to improve our management environment, increase end-user productivity and even extend the useful life of our desktop systems — all helping to lower our total cost of ownership. We feel that using Windows XP Professional will prove to be extremely cost-effective, bringing tremendous overall value to Wells Fargo.”
“Avanade Inc. is upgrading to Windows XP Professional to increase productivity and efficiency across the company’s global work force. Currently, we have migrated 30 percent of our employees and plan to upgrade the remainder of our staff by the end of the year,”
said Mitch Hill, CEO of Avanade.
“Windows XP is an enterprise-class operating system that provides the compatibility, functionality and stability necessary to link legacy applications to business-critical applications and prepare for the promises of Web services via Microsoft .NET.”
GE Capital ITS Shows Ability of Windows XP to Meet Its Needs
The example of GE Capital Information Technology Solutions Europe (GECITS) — one company that is already deploying Windows XP — illustrates the ability of Windows XP to become the core of customized solutions that address the unique needs and scenarios facing enterprises today.
GECITS needed a way to boost the productivity of, and provide better support to, its more than 3,500 laptop-bearing mobile professionals; complicating matters, those employees, scattered across much of Europe, included native speakers of seven languages.
GECITS decided to deploy Windows XP Professional when it learned of the operating system’s superior language support, deployment ease and advanced mobility support, including file synchronization, improved power management and system restoration capabilities. With Windows XP already deployed to 1,000 desktop and notebook computers and plans in place to deploy to all 5,800 computers next year, laptop users report less time waiting for reboots or recuperating from system crashes. They see a 30 percent to 50 percent increase in productivity as measured by system availability and speed of operations. Native language support also simplifies daily operations for non-native English speakers.
“We’ve found that the underlying technology of Windows XP Professional — the foundation it receives from Windows 2000 — makes it very reliable,”
said Juergen Piekarek, European IT operations manager for GECITS, a Microsoft Global Account.
“We will save tens of thousands of dollars each year in employee time, both from the IT support perspective and for the business operations.”
“Deploying Windows XP Professional definitely gives us a competitive edge as our customers can rely on our Windows XP expertise today,”
said Nils Scheller, business development manager at GECITS.
The Best-Performing, Easiest Windows Operating System for Enterprise Use
The benefits of Windows XP Professional for business users are based on the software’s greater performance, usability, stability and reliability.
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Performance. Testing by the independent eTesting Labs Inc. shows that Windows XP is the best-performing Windows operating system ever, scoring 36 percent higher than Windows 98 Second Edition on an industry-standard benchmark and faster than all previous Windows versions on such key operations as startup, resume from standby/hibernate and application startup. It provides more features and benefits than Windows 2000 Professional while at the same time increasing performance.
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Ease of use. Windows XP is easier to use than any other Windows operating system, enabling users to complete tasks with the least time and training. Usability testing shows that it is 17 percent easier to use than Windows Me, which had the easiest user interface before Windows XP, and 25 percent easier to use than Windows 2000. Typically difficult tasks, such as installing a printer, are completed in half the time required with other versions of Windows.
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Stability and reliability. Because Windows XP is built on the Windows 2000 code base and more broadly compatible with third-party products, it is highly stable and at least 10 times more reliable than Windows 95 or Windows 98, reducing the need for help desk and IT support. When support is needed, the remote assistance, advanced search and integrated Web features make it faster and easier for users to get that support.
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