Report From COMDEX: Microsoft Heralds New Era Of Computing With [...]

📅 July 12, 2001 - If software giant Microsoft gets its way, Web hosting companies can look forward to implementing a slew of applications that will introduce entirely new methods to data storage.
At his Comdex 2001 keynote speech in Toronto Thursday, Microsoft Canada President Frank Clegg outlined a new system of data storage and distribution based on Microsoft's new .Net OS platform. The company hopes .Net will become the industry-standard platform for business computing requirements, whether internally or online. Microsoft is also hoping the .Net platform will allow the software behemoth to gain some ground in the neck-and-neck race it finds itself in today with Unix-based Operating Systems for biggest market share in the Web hosting industry.
There has been a lot of hype surrounding the new .NET concept, and a lot of mystery still surrounds the product. Here, in (hopefully) simplest of terms, is what the company is trying to do.
Microsoft wants to create a computing environment for users that relies on the concept distributed computing rather than communication with a central rendez-vous point. Using eXtensible Markup Language (XML), Bill Gates, Clegg and company envision a new era of computing that will see communication between hardware of all shapes and forms, from servers to computers to cell phones, through one solitary XML-based Web development platform.
"With .Net we're building a framework to run a new type of application," Clegg said. "It can run on a server, it can run on a client, it can run peer-to-peer, it can run client-to-server."
Now, the .NET platform is not something you can necessarily take home in a box and install; it's based on a series of applications that will be released over time, each of which is supposed to mesh with the others (if you're looking for a new desktop OS, you'll have to wait for the full roll-out of Windows XP). The company hopes to have the framework of the initiative in place by 2002, meaning that while most applications Microsoft is currently releasing are .Net compatible but don't fully exploit the power of the new platform.
Microsoft says consumers will benefit from .Net through enhanced Web services and information management - something already evident in the advancements the company is making with its Passport concept. Meanwhile, Microsoft says enterprise-level firms like hosting companies will benefit through a new suite of advanced software applications that will have use both inside and outside data centers for use on Intranets, cross-platform communications and even instant messaging.
The company has been hard at work introducing a slew of enterprise-based applications tailor-made to make full use of .Net once the roll-out is complete. Popular database management system SQL Server 2000 was among one of the first pieces of software to be .Net ready, and is typically considered the heart of the new system. SQL is the database management system of choice for most companies who run database-driven sites based on Windows NT/2000, so the company figured it made sense to make it one of the first to be .Net ready and an integral part of the new system. Also keep an eye out for BizTalk Server 2000, an advanced piece of software that provides the groundwork and infrastructure for building and integrating e-commerce communities.
Clegg believes the power of XML will eventually make the .NET platform the industry standard for businesses. "The .NET enterprise servers... are ready to provide the essential infrastructure to enable companies to quickly and easily benefit from XML integration," he said. "As we introduce Web services in to the mix, enterprises will realize entirely new efficiencies and opportunities."