1/23/2002 -- As of press time, Microsoft was still aiming for March 31 for the release to manufacturing of Windows .NET Server, the next version of Windows 2000 Server, with a general availability of April 15. As with all Microsoft products, those deadlines are subject to revision, especially in light of the recent memo from Bill Gates to all Microsoft employees putting a new emphasis on security.

Anne Marie McSweeney, Microsoft's director of certification skills and assessment, told Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine that the company will "try to get the [.NET] exams out as close to the release of the product as we can.

"It's a high priority for us," McSweeney continued. "The effort's huge to us." She said that the bottleneck to exam release tends to be technical resources required to build the new tests. She said to expect the new roster sometime in the "calendar year."

Microsoft has previously announced that .NET server exams can be mixed and matched with Win2K and Windows XP tests to achieve the MCSE credential. The .NET tests Microsoft has listed on its certification site include: 70-275, Installing, Configuring and Administering Windows .NET Server; 70-276, Implementing and Administering a Windows .NET Server Network Infrastructure; and 70-277, Implementing and Administering a Windows .NET Server Directory Services Infrastructure. -Keith Ward, MCPMag.com