Windows 2000 Aims for Data Centers, Homes

Microsoft has announced how Windows 2000 will evolve through the end of the year 2001. The plan calls for Windows 2000 to expand quickly from corporate offices to data centers and homes, but move much more slowly into the embedded market.

The plan, outlined to developers at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), begins with the release of Windows 2000 DataCenter Server in the third quarter of 2000. (See “Windows 2000 DataCenter Targeting High-End Unix Servers” on page 3.) Microsoft will then ship its first 64-bit Windows version, followed by an upgraded 32-bit Windows and finally an embedded version of Windows 2000.

64-bit Windows. 64-bit Windows will ship in conjunction with Intel’s Itanium chip, which will most likely appear in the fourth quarter of 2000. Microsoft’s Windows Hardware General Manager, Carl Stork, confirmed that both workstation and server products will ship for the 64-bit kernel. The workstation product will take on the market for high-end engineering and scientific applications, and the server product will supplement the 32-bit Windows 2000 DataCenter Server by supporting highly scalable, tightly managed servers with terabyte-sized main memory. The 64-bit server will initially target database and online analytic processing (OLAP) applications.