Ready For .Net Server

As Microsoft begins final testing of Windows .Net Server 2003 before its general availability in April, here's a question: Who needs it?

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co., for one. The company has been trying out .Net Server at about 20 of its 5,000 branches for months and plans to roll out the platform on thousands of Intel servers during the next two years. It's more than a mere operating-system upgrade. Field-office employees use text-based terminals, and Enterprise wants to add a graphical interface and new applications, while maintaining the cost and ease-of-administration advantages of its terminals. It's doing that using .Net Server's Terminal Services, says Mark Adams, assistant VP of IS at Enterprise.

Microsoft officials say other candidates for .Net Server include companies with server versions that predate Windows 2000.