AppCenter Server will manage all the servers in a cluster through a central console; replicate files, components, and configuration settings across multiple servers; perform real-time performance and health monitoring of the cluster as a whole; monitor and heal itself to isolate failures of hardware, network, or applications without interrupting service; execute dynamic load balancing to automatically regulate COM+ component execution across multiple servers; and offer load-testing and capacity-analysis tools.

Unfortunately, AppCenter Server's features, originally expected to be part of the Windows DNA 2000 functionality included in Windows 2000 Server, have been spun out into a separate product that will not be available when Windows 2000 Server initially ships. Instead, it is expected to ship in the second quarter of 2000.

The Enterprise Edition of Visual Studio also includes tools specifically intended for distributed development, including enterprise database tools, Visual SourceSafe 6.0, Repository 2.0, Visual Component Manager, Visual Modeler 2.0, and Visual Studio Analyzer.

The database tools allow easy connectivity to all major databases, including SQL, Oracle, Sybase, and IBM's DB2, as well as OLE DB and ODBC drivers. Source Safe, Repository, and Component Manager are tools for developing and sharing code in a collaborative environment. Visual Modeler provides Unified Modeling Language modeling, and Visual Studio Analyzer facilitates visual diagramming and debugging of code.

In any enterprise application, issues of security, maintaining user information, and granular delegation of administrative tasks are also critical. To this end, Windows 2000 will incorporate Active Directory, and DNA 2000 includes tools for integrating Active Directory into enterprise applications, making it much easier to create directory services within large applications without writing and maintaining separate databases for user IDs, security, and administration.

Certainly, you can build and manage these n-tier applications without waiting for COM+ and DNA 2000; old technologies already deliver the benefits of n-tier applications in many organizations. Windows 2000, however, offers a development environment that is familiar to thousands of developers, enables the reuse of millions of lines of existing code, and integrates the array of necessary services in a single-vendor platform.

While most large companies have prudently postponed Windows 2000 deployment, these application services are the best argument for deploying Windows 2000 now.

For NT shops, however, the move to Windows 2000 is all but inevitable. Key enabling technologies will eventually force your hand. By deploying Windows 2000 in a development environment now, you can actually reap remarkable benefits from what might otherwise be a painful transition.

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