If you're looking for reasons to upgrade to Windows Server 2003, take a look at the following ten most valuable benefits.
1. Easy to Deploy, Manage, and Use
With its familiar Windows interface, Windows Server 2003 is easy to use. New streamlined wizards simplify the set-up of specific server roles and routine server management tasks so that even servers without a dedicated administrator are easy to manage. In addition, administrators have several new and improved features designed to make it easier to deploy and maintain Active Directory.
2. Secure Connected Infrastructure
Efficient and secure networked computing is more important than ever for a business to remain competitive. Windows Server 2003 lets your organisation take advantage of existing IT investments, and extend those advantages to partners, customers, and suppliers.
To help to ensure security throughout the enterprise, Identity management in Active Directory spans the entire network and public key infrastructure (PKI), smart cards and certificates can be deployed across the enterprise.
3. Enterprise-Class Reliability, Availability, Scalability, and Performance
Reliability is enhanced through a range of new and improved features including memory mirroring, Hot Add Memory, and health detection. For higher availability, the Microsoft Cluster service now supports up to eight-node clusters and geographically separated nodes. Better scalability is provided with the ability to scale from a single-processor to 64-way Itanium 2 systems.
Overall, Windows Server 2003 is faster with up to 140 percent better file-system performance and significantly faster performance for Active Directory, XML Web services, Terminal Services, and networking.
4. Lower TCO Through Consolidation and the Latest Technology
Windows Server 2003 provides many technical advances that help organisations lower total cost of ownership (TCO), including The Windows Resource Manager which lets administrators set resource usage (for processors and memory) on server applications and manage them though Group Policy settings and Network-attached storage helps consolidate file services.<.p>
5. Create Dynamic Intranet and Internet Web Sites
IIS 6.0, the Web server included in Windows Server 2003, provides enhanced security and a dependable architecture that offers application isolation and greatly improved performance. The result: higher overall reliability and uptime.
6. Fast Development with Integrated Application Server
The Microsoft .NET Framework is deeply integrated into the operating system. Microsoft ASP.NET enables high-performance Web applications. Windows Server 2003 provides many features that boost developer productivity and the value of applications.
7. Work Smarter By Turning Your File Server Into a Powerful Collaboration Server
Windows SharePoint Services is a platform for creating large numbers of smart Web communities focused on information sharing and team productivity. It can scale to thousands of sites within an organisation and fully supports load-balanced Web farm and clustered database deployments.
8. Automate Operations with Script-based and Policy-based Management Tools
The new Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) allows administrators to better deploy and manage policies that automate key configuration areas such as users' desktops, settings, security, and roaming profiles, allowing most management tasks to be completed from the command line if desired.
9. Increase Document Protection and Availability via Intelligent File Storage
With the new shadow copy restore feature, users can retrieve previous versions of files instantly, without requiring costly assistance from a support professional. Enhancements to the Distributed File System (DFS) and File Replication service (FRS) provide users with a consistent way to access their files wherever they are.
10. Easy to Find, Share, and Reuse XML Web Services
Enterprise UDDI Services is a dynamic and flexible infrastructure for XML Web services. This standards-based solution enables companies to run their own UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration) directory for intranet or extranet use, making it easy to discover Web services and other programmatic resources.
