Windows 2003 to take on UNIX

The world of enterprise computing is dominated by 4- and 8-way RISC UNIX boxes. Until now, Microsoft has lacked a presence in this lucrative and important market segment. With the upcoming launch of Windows 2003 Server, the company will finally have a 64-bit OS, that combined with McKinley (Itanium 2), will offer a credible alternative to RISC UNIX boxes for the first time, says Prashant L Rao

Windows Server is a very successful product—unit shipments of the OS account for two-thirds of SIAS (Standard Intel Architecture Servers) hardware shipments, according to IDC. That said, Windows NT and 2000 have long been operating systems used for branch computerisation or as departmental file & print servers. The really crucial applications run on 64-bit RISC machines running UNIX. That’s the market that Microsoft wants to crack, and with Windows 2003, it has a product that could give it the crucial beachhead to start its campaign.

The target—Enterprise server market running ERP and database applications
At the heart of every enterprise IT installation is a server room where business-critical applications such as ERP and databases run. These applications have conventionally run on RISC UNIX boxes that offer a 64-bit environment. 64-bit UNIX has long been the Gold Standard for enterprise computing, more so in India, which lacks a widespread installed base of mainframes unlike, say, the US. UNIX on RISC has given companies the ability to access gigantic pools of memory and handle enormous databases, something 32-bit Windows wasn’t quite capable of doing. It is this $130 million market (Source: IDC; UNIX server revenues for CY 2002) that is now being targeted.

The incumbent—UNIX running on RISC boxes from Sun, IBM and HP
The dominant players in this market segment are Sun, HP and IBM. Each of these players offers one or more 64-bit UNIX operating systems and RISC hardware to go with the same. Of the three, Sun is firmly committed to Solaris-SPARC and will have nothing to do with Itanium or Windows. IBM is also committed to its AIX-pSeries platform though the company is planning to release an Itanium box built around IBM’s Summit architecture, the chipset used in its popular x440 range of Intel servers. HP is the wildcard; it is going to release a slew of Itanium boxes this year. While HP is promoting a multi-OS strategy, rest assured that Windows 2003 will be a big part of its strategy.

The challenger—Windows 2003 on McKinley/Deerfield boxes from HP
Microsoft admits that the market prefers 64-bit for running ERP, large databases and scientific applications. The company released a 64-bit limited edition of Windows 2000, but that product came long after the 32-bit Windows 2000 release and availability was limited. This time around, Microsoft is simultaneously launching both 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 2003. The 64-bit Enterprise edition and Datacenter editions will be launched in India in the last week of April, along with Windows 2003’s 32-bit editions. It’s Wintel all over again, only this time it’s Itanium 2 and Windows 2003. “We will be as focused on the 64-bit space as we are on 32-bit,” says Yasir Yousuff, senior marketing manager, Windows Server Platforms, Microsoft India.

To take on UNIX on its home turf, Microsoft has worked hard to beef up security on Windows 2003. “It is our most secure product ever,” claims Yousuff. Security is being addressed from two angles. The first is to automate the process of keeping Windows Server up-to-date. The solution? SUS (Software Update Service) that makes its debut in Windows 2003, and which automates the process of downloading and updating the OS. With the manual update process of Windows 2000 or NT, chances were fairly high that administrators would forget to install crucial patches, making their servers vulnerable. Microsoft has learnt from the recent Slammer incident that it’s not enough to make software patches available and hope that customers would install them.

In the case of the Slammer worm, Service Pack 3 for SQL Server that would secure systems from the worm shipped four days before the attack. Unfortunately, far too many administrators didn’t apply the patch to their servers, thus letting Slammer through. SUS will be key to making sure that incidents like Slammer are avoided or, at least, their impact is minimised. The second measure is to ‘lockdown’ services in a default installation. For instance, Internet Information Services (IIS) 6 ships in ‘lockdown’ mode with nothing enabled except vanilla HTTP (Web server). Another popular service, telnet, runs at a lower privilege, reducing the fallout if the service is compromised.

Microsoft has also made the OS easier to manage. In Windows 2000 you had one shot at getting the Active Directory right and if you messed up you were hosed. In Windows 2003, you can go back and redo the Active Directory if you need to, provided all your PDCs (Primary Domain Controller) and BDCs (Backup Domain Controller) are running the OS. Administration is more granular—administrators can drill down to the individual user level, it’s easy to copy and paste policies from one organisational unit (OU) to another.

The 64-bit thrust makes the OS more scalable. Add-ons that let Windows server offer partitioning and schedule-driven resource management will be released post-launch as downloads.

India, in many ways, will be a test-bed of sorts for Windows 2003. Indian enterprises routinely use 4-way and 8-way UNIX boxes to run their business-critical applications. Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition is going to fit right into that slot. If Microsoft can establish a credible presence in this segment, it can then hope to push the Datacenter edition of Windows 2003 in the mission-critical market.

It all boils down to the Windows 2003-Itanium combo. Intel is bullish on Windows 2003. “Once Windows Server 2003 debuts, acceptance of Itanium will be much healthier. There are a lot of pilot projects going on,” says William Wu, Itanium processor family program manager, Intel Asia Pacific. HP’s the other vendor rallying behind the OS. “Windows 2003 is expected to have a very significant impact on HP’s Intel server business. All our new servers will be certified for it,” says Vaibhav Phadnis, business manager, Industry Standard Servers at HP India.

The outcome
Windows will move beyond file & print, messaging and low-end ERP applications to handling enterprise applications. NT 4 was purely an edge server OS. Windows 2000 took the first steps in Microsoft’s march towards the core of an organisation’s IT set-up. Windows 2003 will cement the gains of Windows 2000, and while UNIX will continue to be the preferred choice for top-of-the-line applications, when it comes to mid-size installations Windows Server will be a credible alternative.