In today's fast-moving commerce landscape, businesses need to utilise new ways of doing business. Improving an organisation's competitive position and financial picture means implementing agile business systems while at the same time reducing the cost of doing business.
Microsoft has engineered the Windows 2000 Platform, a product line of operating systems, to provide for a wide range of computing needs, from the desktop to high-end clustered servers.
A recently released Arthur Andersen report evaluating the return on investment impact of Windows 2000 states: "In today's fast-changing business environment, the bottom line of an organisation could be positively impacted by taking early advantage of Windows 2000."
"Industry sectors such as the engineering field welcome Windows 2000 because of its reliability and stability," says Kevin Mileham, Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft South Africa. "Designing the Windows 2000 Platform, Microsoft invested $162 million in people and tools to ensure that the operating systems maintain systems reliability. In addition, the Windows 2000 operating system includes internal improvements that help a business stay up and running, which in turn saves costs."
No business can afford server downtime, explains Mileham. "Significant improvements in the Windows 2000 system architecture help deliver higher uptime than either Windows NT or competitive systems. With Windows 2000, 99,999% uptime can be achieved which is viable for huge operations such as mines which operate on 24 h, 7 day-a-week cycle."
Mileham continues that Windows 2000 enables network administrators to streamline operations to increase efficiency and productivity throughout a business. The result is a network that is easier to use, more responsive to change and better adapted to the way users need to work. It also enables employees to increase productivity with less technical support.
"Windows 2000 includes improvements to the familiar Windows user interface that allow users to access and analyse information to make better, more informed decisions quickly. These features include personalised menus and new wizards giving users more day-to-day assistance," says Mileham.
System administrators can automatically configure each user's computer with preferred settings and only the necessary applications and information. The result is that employees can work together better across organisational boundaries so a company can collectively respond to opportunities and challenges faster.
"In other words, a user can log on to any company desktop, anywhere in the world, and work with their own personal settings and information. When travelling, a user can either dial directly into a company's network, or reduce long-distance charges by using a simple process to connect to a company's network over the Internet," he says.
"With Windows 2000, your administrator can ensure each user's computer has all the required applications, and no more. Should your company deploy new software, a simple process allows the administrator to make it promptly available to users. Should a crucial file get deleted your administrator can set your system to restore the lost file automatically," he says.
Mileham concludes that organisations using Windows 2000 on both server and desktop systems are assured its systems can grow to meet expanding demands across the company. Scalability improvements in Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Advanced Server enable organisations to support growing user populations running a wide range of applications.
About Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a platform intended for the next generation of business computing and addresses the full range of customers' computing needs, from laptops and desktops to high-end, clustered servers. The operating system helps organisations Internet-enable their business with a reliable, manageable infrastructure that is optimised for existing and emerging hardware. More information about Windows 2000 is available at www.microsoft.com/windows2000
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