10/1/2000 -- As ENT Magazine's Scott Bekker reports, Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer officially introduced the company's .NET Enterprise Server line of software during a launch party being satellite broadcast from San Francisco to a handful of cities around the country. The launch included the official debut of Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, the enterprise-grade operating system.

The .NET line itself consists of: SQL Server 2000, Exchange 2000, Application Center 2000, Commerce Server 2000, Host Integration Server 2000, BizTalk Server 2000, and Internet Security & Acceleration Server 2000. Microsoft also announced an upcoming server product, Mobile Information 2001 Server, a service enabling information access via mobile devices.

Many of the server products being introduced come from the Microsoft BackOffice suite, but Microsoft says the suite itself will be retooled for small- to medium-sized business implementations in future iterations.

SQL Server 2000 is available now; Exchange 2000 Server and Host Integration Server 2000 will be available in the following weeks. Windows 2000 Datacenter is also available now, but it won’t be sold by Microsoft, reports Bekker. "Customers will only be able to obtain Datacenter as part of complete, eight-processor capable OEM systems that are fully tested and supported" by third-party solution providers like Compaq Computer Systems and Hewlett-Packard Company.

Scott Bekker filed a detailed report of the launch, which you can read at http://www.entmag.com/breaknews.asp?ID=3383; the report also includes links for more information on each server component. -Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine