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Hewlett Packard

 

Features - March 1999 - Only fools rush in
Annie Gurton evaluates the argument for an upgrade to Windows 2000.
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No-one knows exactly when a final bug-free version of Windows 2000 (formerly Windows NT 5.0) will ship, but the sales pressure is already on. IT managers can be forgiven for thinking that if they haven't already started to plan their upgrade, their business will be doomed to terminal competitive decline. Don't you believe it! The consensus is that eventually Windows 2000 will be the enterprise operating system of choice, but for now most IT managers have plenty of other things to worry about without getting distracted by something which is still essentially vapourware.

Early adopters

There are always early adopters, particularly where Microsoft is concerned, and many of those who have been involved with beta testing the early iterations of Windows 2000 are extremely gung-ho about its future. For example, Data General a company that already has two-thirds of its business coming from NT sites and has been testing the beta Windows 2000 is right behind it. Bernard Foot, European Systems Marketing Manager for Data General says, "The product is definitely going to become the enterprise standard and the sooner businesses take it up the sooner they will have an advantage over their competitors. There are technical benefits which will undoubtedly show up in the bottom line." Yet Foot has not actually seen Windows 2000 in action, and he is relying almost entirely on the impressive claims of Microsoft's marketing department. There are many reasons to urge caution, and most IT managers will need no encouragement to wait and see, at least until after January 2000. Many have no choice. Shane Gallagher, Managing Director of First Stop Computer Group, a reseller and Microsoft solution provider, says that the majority of IT managers are too concerned about Y2K and EMU issues, and their resources are too tied up, to even think about Windows 2000 even if they wanted to. He says, "We have been holding seminars for IT managers and board level decision-makers at which we explain what we expect Windows 2000 will be able to do and the business benefits we expect it to deliver, but the seminars are only an awareness-raising exercise. Let's face it, the product doesn't even exist properly yet. How can anyone make an informed decision?"

IBM is behind Windows 2000

Adam Jollans, IBM's European Marketing Manager for software on NT, has no doubts that Windows 2000 will deliver better performance, reliability, scalability and manageability. "Microsoft is making a dramatic leap into the enterprise with this product," he says. "As a corporate client it is going to be easier to use and manage, and as a file server it will be more flexible and scalable. As an application server it will support huge data sets and as an Internet/intranet server it is going to be more secure."

Jollans has no doubt that the enhancements that Windows 2000 offers will cement Microsoft's future and accelerate it's respectability as a provider of robust mission-critical environments of choice, but even he says that, at the moment, evaluation is as far as most IT managers should go. "There is an immense amount of new code involved, and it would be naive to say that there will be no glitches. Of course there will be, and no sensible IT manager would want to take it on before any glitches have been ironed out," he says.

Microsoft wants to get it right

Francis Reay, Microsoft's Worldwide NT Server Product Manager accepts that it was essential for Microsoft to produce a new improved version of NT and agrees that any new product of the size of Windows 2000 is going to need considerable testing before it goes live. "The product will deliver major advances on the desktop as well as at the server end. It is more usable, more reliable, a better notebook system and it supports new types of hardware," she says. But it is maybe a blessing that most IT resources of many organisations are currently tied up with Y2K and EMU, and Windows 2000 will be properly settled, tested and bedded down by the time those resources become free.

IBM's Jollans points out that a new operating system involves more than just the OS code. "There is also the hardware, which has to be able to cope, and applications which have to be rewritten to take advantage of everything the new OS offers. And finally, he says, "Of course, you have to have experienced support services." And therein lies the chicken and egg scenario that is the most valid reason to wait before upgrading. Many of Microsoft's software, hardware and solution partners have already been working with the new product for several months and by the time the final Version 1.0 comes out they will have many man-hours of expertise. However, the fact is that any new operating system requires new training courses for the programmers and maintenance engineers, and everyone has to start somewhere. "There is already an NT skills shortage," says Jollans. "Trying to get an army of support staff big enough to support Windows 2000 properly immediately is obviously going to be difficult, if not impossible."

Support issues

Derek Watkins, General Manager of Peregrine Systems agrees, saying, "Upgrading to Windows 2000 will bring real support problems, even if it proves to be robust and functional in the first version. There will be hardware incompatibilities, and I doubt that the support infrastructure of many organisations or their suppliers will be able to cope, at least at first." Support issues are a major factor, but Andy Mulholland, Technical Markets Director of Cap Gemini says that the decision whether to upgrade sooner, later or not in the foreseeable future depends almost entirely on the business and its strategies. "If your business wants to move to Web-based applications and deliver Web-based business services built around Web-based processes, then clearly a move to a more robust enterprise-level mission critical operating system is going to be essential."

The question that most analysts are generally avoiding is whether Windows 2000 is going to be the best choice for the next decade, or whether user confidence will swing towards Unix, perhaps persuaded by Linux. The jury is still out on that one.

Active Directory could be main reason for Windows 2000 evaluation

At the heart of Windows 2000 is Active Directory, the primary tool for the network administrator which embraces two well-known Internet standards: Lightweight Directory Access Protocols (LDAP) as native protocol and the Domain Name Service (DNS) as the naming locator service. This is where the network manager lives day to day, adding new users and groups and giving and taking away access to files. Going to a fully distributed directory is a big step for Microsoft. Microsoft's Reay comments, "We hope that Active Directory will be used for managing all of a company's networking and infrastructure applications, not just for managing access to files and printers."

Cap Gemini's Mulholland sees Active Directory as one of the main reasons why IT managers will want to evaluate Windows 2000, but he says that IT managers should not be distracted by the technology and should focus on their business and its IT requirements. "It is very easy to be bowled over by the hyperbole but you have to look at the business challenges facing the company and whether its existing IT and IT strategy will be able to cope long term."

Unix will beat Windows 2000 for some time yet

There are many pundits who think that Unix is still going to be the most robust, scalable and reliable enterprise-level operating system, and Windows 2000 will be risky for some time. Mulholland comments, "At least Unix is out there, it has been delivering mission critical solutions for many years, it is now completely open and it offers a proven way to deliver collaborative computing. NT is a bandwagon which IT managers should view with considerable caution at least at the moment."

Microsoft's Reay is pragmatic about the number of sites which will upgrade to Windows 2000 as soon as it is available. "There is always a spike in the sales as soon as a product is launched which quickly flattens out and then grows again more slowly, but with a product like this we don't expect a huge take-up straightaway. It will snowball and gather momentum, but we don't expect significant numbers to upgrade before other issues like Y2K and EMU are resolved. Most IT managers are far too absorbed in those problems at the moment to even consider upgrading in the foreseeable future." First Stop's Gallagher says that the total cost of ownership argument is going to capture the imagination of many IT managers. He goes on to say, "Windows 2000 is definitely a 'fat client' but Microsoft keeps enough information on the server that users get some of the benefits of thin clients as well. Specifically, Windows 2000 will help centralise system configuration and backup of personal data files."

Data General's Foot points out that although Windows 2000 will undoubtedly deliver many benefits and fine features, there is no guarantee that the first commercial version to ship will offer much more than the core facilities. "The functionality of the first version may be relatively restricted," he says. However, Foot believes that it will be enough for IT managers to evaluate the product, and allow them to come to an informed decision. They are planning to supply Beta 3 on a server to those who want to look at it. He goes on to say, "I think that many IT managers will want to dip a toe in the water."

Greater administration control

Cap Gemini's Mulholland believes that organisations who should consider Windows 2000 first are those which are already suffering from an inadequate operating system, such as those trying to manage a mobile workforce and having to deal with several operating systems, or those trying to move into Web-based business processes. "NT 4.0 made great strides forward as a functional desktop operating system for corporate client PCs, but one of the biggest impediments to its mass acceptance was the dearth of support for mobile computing. The OS supported neither power management nor plug-and-play, essential for swapping PC cards and hot docking. Windows 2000 will provide these capabilities but will also go much further, giving users greater control over mobile PCs," he says. Foot believes that it will be the enhanced control and administration facilities which will be most attractive to IT managers. "Although no two managers agree on the components which make up TCO, almost everyone agrees that one of the biggest costs is administration, and Windows 2000 undoubtedly offers better and therefore cheaper administration." One important feature is going to be the ability to control what software the users can install on their client PCs.

Reay adds that Microsoft has designed Windows 2000 to have the easiest set-up and smoothest transition path of any version of NT. However, Gallagher points out that users of 3.5 are bound to object if they are forced to migrate to version 4.0 before going up to 5.0. "The migration from 4.0 to Windows 2000 is well documented but it is harder to go straight from 3.51 to Windows 2000 and Microsoft is recommending a double jump, which will not go down well," he says. Watkins of Peregrine Systems adds that Windows 2000 is never going to be a set-up-and forget system, and it will always be necessary to have properly trained and experienced support staff on hand. Mulholland comments that NT has rightly been heavily criticised for poor security and Windows 2000 not only tightens up security but also puts in place mechanisms that will allow the secure sharing of information. "One of the main advantages, apart from scalability, that Unix offers over NT is security, but Windows 2000 really addresses that issue," he says.

Kerebos

At the centre of Windows 2000 is Kerberos, a security protocol that allows users to authenticate without sending their passwords over the wire or storing them on local machines. Instead, it lets end users acquire a unique key at log-on from the central security authority on the Domain Controller. Then, when a client requests a service on the network, such as file retrieval from the server, Kerberos connects using this key. Unix systems already use Kerberos. Windows 2000 also uses digital certificates, allowing secure connections with outside partners, suppliers or customers.

The word on Windows 2000 seems to be prudence and caution, but there is a growing feeling that some IT managers believe that Windows 2000 is inevitable and the sooner they adopt it the better. Gallagher says, "I think that a sensible plan is to evaluate Windows 2000 and reflect on whether it offers achievable business benefits before rushing in. We want customers to be happy with it and for migration to be smooth. That doesn't happen if anything is rushed. We must all be sensible."