Windows NT Magazine columnists share their picks and predictions
Sphinxes and Hydras and Octopi-oh, my!
If you asked people on the street to step inside a room full of Sphinxes, Hydras, and Octopi, they would likely refuse, thinking they would be among winged monsters, multi-headed serpents, and tentacled creatures of the deep. But if you asked techies to do the same, they would jump at the chance, knowing that they would be in a room full of the latest technological advances in the computer industry.
The columnists of Windows NT Magazine fall into the techie category. In fact, Sphinx, Hydra, and OctopusHA+ are three of the many products they see making a difference in the computing world.
Windows NT Magazine asked its columnists to pick NT-related products that were influential in 1997 and to predict what NT-related products will be influential in 1998. Here are their picks and predictions.
Bob Chronister
Tricks and Traps
Pick for '97:
Exchange 5.x
Corporations rely heavily on email and other electronic communication systems. Consequently, vendor upgrades to email systems are crucial not only to a corporation's success but also to a vendor's reputation. Microsoft has improved its reputation in 1997 by upgrading Exchange twice, releasing Exchange 5.0 in early 1997 and Exchange 5.5 late in 1997.
Exchange 5.0 offers many functional and powerful new features. For example, the addition of Post Office Protocol (POP) 3 is a compelling reason to upgrade to Exchange 5.0. A built-in Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP), ActiveX Web-based client interfaces, client groups, and dynamic routing also make Exchange 5.0 hard to resist.
With Exchange 5.0, you can easily set up and manage address folders. You can even set up encryption as part of the client address. (For more information about Exchange 5.0, see Tony Redmond, "Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0 Smoothes the Rough Edges," April 1997.)
Exchange 5.5 offers even more functionality and power. It supports Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and complies with Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP) 4. In addition, clients with Secure MIME (S/MIME) capabilities can send encrypted messages to each other via Exchange 5.5. You can even connect Exchange 5.5 to Lotus Notes with the Lotus Notes connector. (For more information about Exchange 5.5, see Tony Redmond, "Microsoft's Exchange Server 5.5 Debuts," December 1997.)
Microsoft's upgrades in versions 5.0 and 5.5 not only increase Exchange's functionality and power, but they also increase Windows NT's viability. This increase, in turn, is boosting the corporate environment's acceptance of NT.
Exchange Server 5.0 and 5.5
Microsoft · 425-882-8080
Web: http://www.microsoft.com/products/prodref/49_ov.htm
Prediction for '98:
Windows NT 5.0
Microsoft's improvements in Windows NT 5.0 are impressive, in both NT Workstation and NT Server. NT Workstation 5.0 features built-in support for asynchronous transfer mode (ATM). Although many people view ATM support as trivial, it broadens NT's network capability. For example, with ATM support, video streaming is possible. Built-in ATM clearly raises the standard for network communication.
Other improvements in NT Workstation 5.0 include:
- A common interface for both the Web and hard disk. You can connect to the Internet by typing an address on the taskbar.
- Built-in fax capabilities. You can launch fax applications from the Start button on your desktop.
- Enhanced search capabilities. You can search both the Web and your system with comparable tools.
- More user-friendly features. A screen reader lets you convert text to speech, and you can expand portions of the screen for easier viewing.
Clearly, Microsoft's advances to NT Workstation 5.0 are substantial.
Microsoft has also made many advances to NT Server 5.0. One powerful advance is Active Directory. AD's services go far beyond directory services in previous versions of NT. For example, with AD's multimaster replication, you can update account information at any domain controller. With the Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI), you can extend the network because ADSI provides a simple naming convention for all network objects. Because AD is scalable, you can scale NT to a network of any size. And AD automatically integrates intranet and Internet environments for you. These and other AD services will prove invaluable to large enterprise networks. (For details about NT 5.0, see Mark Minasi, "NT 5.0 Gets Better and Better—Mostly," December 1997. For details about ADSI, see Sakari Kouti, "Manage Directory Resources with Active Directory Service Interfaces," November 1997.)
NT 5.0 also introduces multiple logon protocols. For the first time, Kerberos will be a security option. In addition, you can use the NT LAN Manager authentication system, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and Internet authentication. NT's security options are clearly expanding.
I am enthusiastic about NT 5.0. It has something for everyone. Workstation users will appreciate such features as ATM support and desktop faxing. Administrators will appreciate such improvements as multimaster replication and ADSI.
Windows NT 5.0
Microsoft · 425-882-8080
Web: http://www.microsoft.com