Top-tier OEMs are jumping on Microsoft Corp.s Windows Server 2003 bandwagon.
Dell Computer Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. on Thursday both announced the availability of the new operating system on their servers as well as services designed to help customers migrate their businesses onto Windows Server 2003.
At the operating systems launch in San Francisco, Dell officials said their company already has shipped more than 9,000 PowerEdge servers running Windows Server 2003 to users around the world, including the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. According to Dell, Nasdaq has consolidated its infrastructure on 35 PowerEdge servers running the new operating system.
The new services announced by Dell, of Round Rock, Texas, are designed to enable customers to easily migrate their businesses from their current Windows platform to Windows Server 2003, according to company officials. The company supports the new OS across its entire line of PowerEdge servers and PowerVault storage systems.
Dell employees will assess a business IT environment and then design and implement a migration plan, the officials said.
They also will help enterprises use Microsofts .Net platform to develop applications aimed at increasing worker productivity and collaboration.
Jim Totten, vice president of windows OS and applications at Dell, said users drove the company to create the migration program.
“Were offering the services because we got the clear message from our customers that they want not only the systems by this OS,” Totten said.
What customers see is the chance for improved peformance—Windows Server 2003 offers a 2-to-1 improvement over Windows NT 4.0—while at the same time the ability to consolidate their infrastructure on systems running the operating system, he said. “Server consolidation is one of the cornerstones of that whole process [of migrating to Windows Server 2003],” Totten said.
Also at the show, Microsoft and Intel Corp. officials spoke about the benefits of the operating system for 64-bit computing on systems powered by Intels Itanium chips. Dell will roll out Itanium-powered servers later this year, officials said.
HP officials touted their 20-year relationship with Microsoft and pointed out that they have more than 23,000 service professionals—including 5,000 Microsoft-certified systems engineers—that will help enterprises plan and implement a migration strategy to Windows Server 2003.
HP, of Palo Alto., Calif., also said that it is offering all four editions of Windows Server 2003 on its servers, either factory installed for both 32-bit and 64-bit computing environments or shipped with a server (32-bit only).
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