Look out IBM. Microsoft last week disclosed plans for several new services that put it more squarely in the role of data-center support provider. Until now, the developer has left the bulk of such duties to large hardware partners such as Hewlett-Packard and Unisys Corp.

Microsoft's Datacenter High Availability Program is aimed at customers of Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, scheduled for availability in April. It's an expansion of a 2-year-old Datacenter support program launched around Windows 2000. "We've put more Microsoft skin in the game," says Bob Ellsworth, director of the enterprise technical team with Windows Server marketing.

Windows Server 2003 represents a new level of scalability in Microsoft's operating systems. The Datacenter option will run on up to 64 Intel processors, support eight-node clustering and 512 Gbytes of RAM, and come in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Microsoft's ambitious goal with its new service offerings is to make its systems available 99.999% of the time, allowing no more than five minutes of downtime a year.

Currently, 11 computer makers provide frontline service to Datacenter customers, with Microsoft experts as backup. Under the new program, Microsoft will offer direct support as an option, and it's expanding the program so systems integrators and resellers can be certified service providers, too. Microsoft will make it easier to get system configurations certified quickly when new components are added to a Datacenter server. And Microsoft personnel will support a 24-hour help desk where problems must be reported if they haven't been solved within 45 minutes.

Also new: the Microsoft Reliability Service, through which the vendor will monitor, analyze, and assess the health of Datacenter serv- ers for customers.

"There are some good things here," says Mark Feverston, VP of enterprise-server marketing with Unisys, which provides service and support to more than 500 customers that run Windows 2000 Datacenter Server on Unisys hardware. Even with IT spending flat, Feverston is optimistic that high-end Windows servers will sell this year. "We believe the market's getting bigger."