Even before Windows 2000 is out, Microsoft Corp is promising to surround it with a new breed of web services. In San Francisco on Monday, the company announced DNA 2000, the next version of its Distributed interNet Architecture, though very little of it will be available until next year. The new services are intended to form reusable, programmable building blocks for stitching applications services and devices together over the internet. Microsoft made its strongest endorsement yet of the XML eXtensible Markup Language, calling it the key substrate of the new architecture.
Aside from what Microsoft describes as an across-the-board investment in XML for integration and interoperabilty, DNA 2000 extends the current version of DNA with some new products, including the BizTalk Server for business process integration and AppCenter Server for managing server farms. Windows 2000 will include the core DNA services, including the COM+ component model and services (in the process of being re-plumbed – see separate story), the Internet Information Services web server, Active Server Pages, transactions, MSMQ messaging, data access, clustering and IP load balancing services – which will all be integrated within the operating system itself.
There are six other members of the family. Commerce Server 4.0 will add deeper personalization, expanded site analysis and new product catalog features to the current version of the packaged business to consumer commerce tool. The brand new BizTalk Server supports Microsoft’s XML-based BizTalk framework for e-commerce schemas, and will be Microsoft’s own implementation of the Framework. It will include the BizDesk Console to help manage the integration process. The Babylon integration server, which Microsoft previewed back in May, will provide bidirectional network, data and application integration with legacy hosts.
AppCenter, also brand new, is for the deployment and management of DNA-based server arrays. It will include tools to make it easier to run web applications on server farms, such as a single application image via a central console application replication, real-time performance and health monitoring, fault-tolerance, dynamic load balancing, and load testing and capacity analysis tools.
The next generation of SQL Server 7, codenamed Shiloh, will add native XML support and integrated data mining facilities. And Visual Studio, Microsoft’s development tool family, will also feature support for XML (see separate story) and will be positioned as the common development environment for DNA.
A Developer’s Readiness Kit for Visual Studio is out now so that developers can get ready for Windows 2000, due to be released to manufacturing later this year. The other server products will enter beta testing this year and by available by mid-2000, Microsoft said.
Also as part of DNA 2000, Microsoft says it will offer MegaServices that can be used by other service providers as building blocks for their own services. These include MSN Passport for authentication, Instant Messenger for notification, and Hotmail for email service messaging and collaboration. They can be accessed by users in a browser, but will also respond to programmer requests. Other MegaServices will also emerge, the company said.
