[Am-info] Microsoft Launches Commerce Server 2002

[Fred A. Miller]

Microsoft Launches Commerce Server 2002

Microsoft added one more piece to its .Net strategy Tuesday by
shipping Commerce Server 2002, highly scalable E-commerce
software that analysts say may silence competitors who've claimed
the company's products can't handle equal volumes of product
listings and transactions.

Commerce Server 2002 "is up there with some of the best products
in the market," says Shawn Willett, an analyst for Current
Analysis. Willett says the software achieves high scalability
through its support of resource-management services in Windows
2000, which links and manages multiple computer systems; through
the increased performance in Intel processors that run Microsoft
software; and through its support of the latest SQL Server
database-management software. Microsoft claims the server can
handle 5 million catalog entries.

The release is important for Microsoft's .Net strategy. It
enables developers to use VisualStudio.Net, the latest version of
Microsoft's application development tool suite, to build online
buying and payment applications and other commerce components.
Commerce Server also supports .Net technology in Microsoft's
BizTalk Server integration software that connects to back-office
applications, such as enterprise resource planning systems.

Commerce Server 2002 lets developers get to the software's
functionality using the .Net Framework, a development and
run-time environment for applications based on emerging Web
services standards, including the Simple Object Access Protocol
and XML, or through Microsoft's older Component Object Model
interfaces. This is important since analysts expect Microsoft
customers to continue using the older technology while gradually
migrating to the new paradigm. .Net support "is not going to
change anything overnight, but developers can start experimenting
and using it for future development projects," says Yankee Group
analyst Rob Perry. The next version of Microsoft's server
operating system line, Windows.Net Server, is scheduled to ship
by the end of the year with native support of the .Net Framework.
- Antone Gonsalves

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-- 
Fred A. Miller
Systems Administrator
Cornell Univ. Press Services
fm@cupserv.org, www.cupserv.org
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