The biggest reason why most people tell me they're excited about NT and BackOffice is the integration of many different capabilities into one common platform. This integration makes all of the products easier to install, maintain and use. By integrating a relational database product (Microsoft SQL Server), messaging product (Microsoft Exchange), and other server products such as SNA Server, Site Server, Proxy Server and so forth, the customer experience takes on a degree of commonality much like you would find in our desktop Microsoft Office product.

The underlying technology for all of this integration is the Component Object Model (COM) and the Windows Distributed interNet Applications (Windows DNA) architecture. COM provides the glue that allows applications and operating systems to be built as components and still interoperate seamlessly. Windows DNA is our overall architectural roadmap for how Microsoft will continue to provide a platform of core services at the user interface, business process logic and data storage levels.

Integration doesn't stop with Microsoft products, however. Many of our key partners, like DataWorks, are able to deeply integrate their solutions with our platform, as well as exploit the capabilities of Windows NT and BackOffice to provide integration between their products and those provided by other companies. The work DataWorks is doing with Pivotal and FlexiInternational is one example of how our platform fosters interoperability and integration between different solutions.

Another reason behind the continued success of our products has to do with our commitment to provide the best performing systems at commodity prices, part of Microsoft's overall high-volume, low-cost value proposition. We can thank our hardware partners like Intel, Digital, Compaq, Dell and Hewlett-Packard for part of this as they provide ever more powerful chips and systems. Microsoft, in turn, optimizes products like Windows NT and SQL Server to exploit this increasing hardware capability. This combination has landed Microsoft SQL Server-based systems in the top 20 TPC-C price/performance ($/tmpC) benchmarks as recorded by the Transaction Processing Council (see box).

Customers are also telling me that commodity priced systems aren't good enough if the total cost of ownership (TCO) is too high over the life of the system. Many people think TCO is a weak point for Microsoft, but a recent study by the Gartner Group shows that a well-managed, 32-bit Windows information systems infrastructure does indeed offer lowest cost of ownership. Gartner's study shows that a well-managed, 32-bit Microsoft Windows-based desktop can reduce TCO by up to 25 percent when used as a personal productivity platform, and by up to 35 percent when used as a terminal replacement.

For more information on this study, see www.microsoft.com/windows/platform/info/gartnertco.htm.

Finally, one other factor is vitally important in the continued success of Windows NT and BackOffice. That factor is software partners like DataWorks. Solutions provided by companies like DataWorks are really the driving factors in enterprise IT decision-making. Microsoft Vice President Charles Stevens said recently, "It's applications that drive the sale -- not the platform -- and we understand that very clearly. Microsoft does not write business applications and has no plans to do so."

So we're working closely with our partners to make sure our products provide the best foundation for their applications. It's really a win-win-win situation as Microsoft focuses on our core business of infrastructure, DataWorks provides great industry-specific products, and our common customers get the best performing, easiest-to-use and most functional products on the market today.

For more information about Microsoft in manufacturing, visit our website at www.micro soft.com/industry/man/.

Marcus J. Schmidt is the industry marketing manager for manufacturing at Microsoft Corporation.



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