Microsoft Outs Updates
At press time, status of the first real beta of the new Visual Studio toolkit, a.k.a. Whidbey, remained day to day. Best-guess estimates from company insiders that it would surface as planned at the show ranged from "likely" to "iffy."
Early bits of Whidbey made it into developers' hands as a "community code drop" at VSLive in March.
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Microsoft's Mangione says HP security appliance will ease firewall configuration.
Observers also expect Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., to highlight Whitehorse,modeling technology in Whidbey that promises to let developers work with business analysts to redefine business processes and hasten application development.
It appears less likely that beta one of Yukon, or the SQL Server 2005 database, will be available for the San Diego show.
Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, Palo Alto, Calif., will also show off a new security appliance that puts ISA Server 2004 capabilities atop an HP ProLiant box in a solution crafted for easy deployment. ISA Server 2004 is expected to be priced at $1,499.
The HP ProLiant DL320 Firewall/VPN/Cache Server crafts a "task-driven" menu to enable companies to install edge security services less painfully than before.
"Configuring firewalls today is really a black art with all the IP addresses and things people need to know," said Gordon Mangione, Microsoft's corporate vice president of security products.
For security filtering or URL filtering, all the integration is done very cleanly, added Rick Fricchione, HP's vice president of Microsoft Enterprise Services. The appliance, which will cost about $3,000, is slated to ship in the third quarter. The software-only price for ISA Server 2004 will be $1,499.
Microsoft is also working with Network Engines, Canton, Mass., on a firewall appliance, and with Celestix, Fremont, Calif., on a combined firewall/VPN cache server.
With ISA, Microsoft has to convince corporations wary of putting Microsoft technology at a strategic spot that this is not a toy, said one analyst requesting anonymity.
While many technologists acknowledge the work Microsoft has done to shore up security, the public perception that the company's products are vulnerable persists.
The availability of Exchange SP 1 is important given "many shops' unwillingness to implement 1.0 versions of any product," the analyst added. Exchange Server 2003 has been available broadly since October.