Microsoft Targets Unix Migration

Microsoft

Microsoft also announced that it plans to release its own 64-bit operating system for Intel's McKinley processor upgrade, due mid-2002.

Microsoft executives hope the emergence of 64-bit computing on the Intel platform, enabled by the release of Itanium 2, will make Windows a more competitive sell against the Unix operating system, which has been a 64-bit platform for some time.

Bill Veghte, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Windows Server Division, said the company's Microsoft Services for Unix 3.0 enables Unix and Linux applications to run seamlessly on the Windows server.

Microsoft Services for Unix 3.0 allows customers to run Unix commands, scripts and applications on Windows. It also features an updated compiler and tools that enable users to wrap XML around a Unix application, then run and expose it on Windows servers, Microsoft executives said.

"As they move to a next-generation Web services model, they can take that investment and move it forward," Veghte said.

Microsoft also reduced the price of version 3.0 to $99 from $149. The last version, version 2.2, shipped less than one year ago.

Microsoft is working with systems integration and solution provider partners -- including Infosys, Migratel, Interop Systems and The Boston Group -- to provide hands-on migration services.

Microsoft said a host of Unix customers have switched to Windows servers, including Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Home Shopping Network and GMAC. Blue Cross migrated more than 1 million users from the SunOne Directory Server to Microsoft's Active Directory, Microsoft execuives said. Microsoft also said the IRS recently switched 25,000 Unix terminals to Windows.