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 NEWSMicrosoft pitches 'no separate app server' approach By Paul Krill September 6, 2002 10:28 am PT SEATTLE -- RATHER than develop a separate application server, as companies such as BEA Systems and IBM have done, Microsoft is positioning its upcoming Windows .Net Server 2003 operating system as having all the functionality needed for deploying Internet applications and Web services.
"Application servers prior to Windows .Net Sever were not really designed to natively support XML and XML-based Web services," O'Brien said. "You could argue that Windows 2000 with the .Net Framework would be the same as application servers that are on the market today," said O'Brien. The .Net Framework features Microsoft's facilities for building new applications based on XML. "In Windows .Net Server, we treat XML natively in the operating system as we would treat any other protocol. We start embedding XML as a native part of what we do in the operating system," O'Brien said. "When you take that and combine it with new facilities that are delivered, such as UDDI, you create the application framework and the native services but also the facilities to really help drive those in a profound way," O'Brien said. Key to Microsoft's strategy is inclusion of UDDI technology in the operating system, enabling publishing of a directory of available Web services, and enabling subscription to those services. Microsoft is calling its UDDI features Enterprise UDDI Services. The IIS (Internet Information Services) 6.0 component of .Net Server enables a new process model for developers to tap into and for managing of processes, O'Brien said. IIS provides more granular control of applications and processes within Web sites. IIS is intended to boost Web server security and features cryptographic services, advanced digest authentication, and configurable access control of processes, according to Microsoft. Microsoft's strategy of maintaining application server functionality within the operating system means enterprises do not have to layer these capabilities on top of the operating system, O'Brien said. "Having an application server built into the operating system makes it fast, makes it efficient, and makes it very simple for the customer to maintain and that all translates to cost [savings]," he said. If DevCon attendees are any indication, Microsoft may be on the right track with its application-server-less approach to Web services and XML applications. "I just don't see [a need] for a BEA for us," said Robert Gatliff, chief technical officer with Austin, Texas-based PlanView, which makes project management software that can be deployed on the Web. "My opinion on that is for us, Microsoft basically provides the tools that we need to accomplish our objectives," Gatliff said. Paul Krill is an InfoWorld editor at large. SPONSORED WHITE PAPERS 
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