Let There Be Light

The channel-centric software giant, which formally unveiled the long-awaited product last week, is absolutely the only company in this industry that could have pulled together the audience of several thousand solution providers and software and hardware partners that gathered for the product launch at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.

The solutions dynamics driving this business make the celebratory slam-dunk Microsoft product rollouts of years past seem like ancient history. Nevertheless, the mood at the event was upbeat. And that's saying something, given the current IT spending climate. The general availability of Windows Server 2003, along with SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition (64-bit) and Visual Studio .Net, alone will not spark an IT spending rebound, but it is definitely going to help turn the tide. With this new product set, Microsoft has provided its solution providers with some pretty powerful ammunition to get customers to open their pocketbooks for increased IT productivity and efficiency. Top executives from Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Avanade and others all predicted Windows Server 2003 will open up new doors for them.

The biggest opportunity for partners may be in upgrading the millions of businesses that are still running Windows NT 4.0. Those systems are at a breaking point, and the ROI metrics for moving to Windows Server 2003 are compelling. One industry executive predicted that 15 percent to 25 percent of small and midsize businesses running NT 4.0 will upgrade to Windows Server 2003 by the end of this year. Partners that are not bringing the ROI models in this scenario to their clients are missing the boat.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who hammered home a "do more with less" theme at the event, said the new product set does not change capital investment in the United States, but does provide a significant new opportunity for solution providers. "In time, if you can help somebody accomplish more things and do it with the kind of tight budgets people have today, that is a real opportunity for the channel," Ballmer said. "And we'll be there every step of the way for partners." In the end, that partner commitment is Microsoft's biggest trump card as it moves aggressively into the enterprise with Windows Server 2003.

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