Server Strategies: NT Warriors

By ELLIS BOOKER

Given its relatively short life, the growth of Windows NT--last month renamed Windows 2000--for Web applications is already impressive.

By some estimates, more than half of all companies already base their Web server strategies on NT, and version 4.0 is rapidly increasing its share of enterprise applications overall. Gartner Group expects the platform will increase its portfolio of standard enterprise business apps more than 60 percent by 2001.

Nevertheless, IT managers choosing NT today still face significant trade-offs in terms of performance and stability compared to alternatives such as Unix and Novell's

NetWare. Consider the slew of third-party companies offering "enhancements" to NT's directory, clustering, systems management and security features.

Microsoft may point to these value-added vendors as proof of NT's popularity, but it's more likely these vendors have come to patch holes and buttress a platform that's still evolving its core functionality.

To be sure, NT 5.0, repackaged as a three-tier server line under the Windows 2000 banner, will address many of the top concerns expressed by network managers.

But the Windows 2000 server line is not expected to ship until mid-1999 at the earliest. For the time being, IT managers who opt for NT are dancing between the platform's price/performance advantages over Unix and NT's weaknesses. Those shortcomings start with scalability. Today, a single NT server supports only about 25 percent of the users that a comparable Unix box can handle, and there are many fewer NT engineers out there to hire.

As the two case studies presented here indicate, experiences with NT 4.0 can vary. At Brigham Young University, early hope that NT would offer a less expensive way to open the school's back-end apps to the Web is under review after a disappointing launch last month. Conversely, site creation and hosting company Judd's Online sees its front-to-back commitment to NT--and Microsoft applications--yielding positive results.

The decisions are tough, but these users' experiences should help you weigh your own options.