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June 12, 2000

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IT Managers Rush To Upgrade Notebook PCs

By Karen D. Schwartz

Illustration by Claudia Newell/Three In A Box

nformation technology managers, convinced that any move that will increase the uptime, stability, and manageability of notebook computers should be made immediately, have begun installing Windows 2000 on portable computers in droves. The vast majority of the 1.5 million systems that have been upgraded to Windows 2000 so far have been mobile units formerly running Windows NT, according to Rob Enderle, VP and research leader for desktop and mobile technology at Giga Information Group.

"We could have waited until our lease expired and just ordered new notebooks with Windows 2000 preinstalled," says Mike Enfield, lead analyst for desktop architecture in the desktop solutions group at Motorola Inc. "But for notebooks, there are huge benefits in migrating away from NT, so we decided to jump right in."

It makes sense to do the upgrade as soon as possible, if you believe it will add to your staff's productivity, says Joe Clabby, VP of platforms and services at Aberdeen Group. "People ignore things like this that are unquantifiable and tend to look at the bottom line," he says. "But, in many cases, that's short-sighted." A notebook upgraded to Windows 2000, he says, may be better prepared to handle new E-business and customer-relationship management software that place heavier loads on systems, loads that could cause a less stable operating system such as Windows NT to buckle.

Return to main story, "Windows 2000 Wins Over The Mobile Workforce."

Illustration by Claudia Newell/Three In A Box

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