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November 15, 1999

Windows 2000:
Ready To Run
Companies that opted to adopt Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system early are pleased with what they've seen

By Laura Chabrow

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arly adopters of Windows 2000, which is scheduled to be generally available starting Feb. 17, say Microsoft has delivered on its promises for the new operating system. Among the biggest benefits of the new operating system are more-efficient, cost-effective resource administration and improved security, according to those who are already using it. Behind many of these gains is Windows 2000's Active Directory service, which centrally and automatically manages Windows users, computers, applications, and network resources, keeping all a company's directories in sync.

Ash Shehata, director of information systems and telecommunications at Antelope Valley Healthcare System in Lancaster, Calif., says Windows 2000 is like one-stop shopping. "I don't have to buy any third-party products to get what I want," he says.

What Shehata wants is tighter security and better reliability than he gets with NT 4.0. "NT 4.0 profiles have only a limited subset of what we can do at the user level. Active Directory gives so many options at that level," he says. Other security enhancements in Windows 2000 include Kerberos authentication of user identity and a public key infrastructure that provides encryption capabilities and insures the privacy of files on the company's intranet.

Reliability is also improved. Shehata likes the fact that Microsoft included an operating-system defragmenter in Windows 2000. Without defragmentation, file data gets spread out across the disk as it is updated, making it slower to access. Defragmentation of system files is especially important for servers that are up continuously for a long time--as they are at Antelope Valley Healthcare System. "Short of God telling us to turn a server off, we're not going to," Shehata says, because of the need for round-the-clock access to patient information.

Photo by Ed Carreon Because of Windows 2000's improved security and reliability, Antelope Valley Healthcare System will get rid of three add-on products it now uses to supplement NT 4.0. Shehata estimates that eliminating these will save $100,000 in the first year.

The Los Angeles law firm of Troop Steuber Pasich Reddick & Tobey LLP deployed the Beta 3 version of Windows 2000 Professional on nearly 500 desktops and notebooks in May--more than a month before the first release-candidate version came out. When the law firm tested the software on its PCs, all its applications ran noticeably faster than with NT 4.0. According to CIO James Shourt, even a 3-year-old 133-MHz desktop with only 32 Mbytes of memory got a new lease on life (Microsoft recommends at least 64 Mbytes of RAM for Windows 2000 Professional). The law firm decided it wouldn't wait for the final release to reap the performance benefits. "Windows 2000 lowers the cost of total productivity per business unit--you can do more in less time," says Shourt. The firm is also upgrading from NT 4.0 to Windows 2000 Server.

With Windows 2000, Troop Steuber's staff has greater mobility. Lawyers can now work from any desktop in the office, and roving secretaries and paralegals who fill in for absentees can move easily to new locations. Windows 2000's Roaming User Profile feature brings up users' icons, wallpaper, and applications wherever they sign on.

When lawyers access legal documents from the firm's network on a notebook, they can disconnect from the network, go to a client's office or the courthouse, and still have full access to the files. When the notebook is reconnected to the network, the offline and online versions of the file are automatically synchronized.

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