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More info to help with NT fights... 


 Subject: SERVER: Users find move to NT 4.0 proves costly 

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 SERVER: Users find move to NT 4.0 proves costly 
 OCTOBER 29, 1997                           IBM NA MARKET ANALYSIS 

 COMPUTERWORLD     10/20/97      P. 1, 16 

 "Wary users with the sense to do cost studies are finding that 
 moving to Windows NT Server 4.0 will cost to to three times more 
 than upgrading to the nest level of their existing network 
 operating systems -- a point supported by several analysts' 
 studies. 

 As a result, many of those users holding off on a wholesale 
 Windows NT 4.0 migration. 

 Computerworld conducted a random sampling of 15 Fortune 1,000 
 businesses, analysts and systems integrators.  It found that not 
 is the cost of an enterprisewide upgrade to Microsoft Corp.'s 
 Windows NT Server 4.0 significantly more than that of rival 
 platforms to install and maintain, but some users got so bogged 
 down, they elected to reinstall their legacy network operating 
 systems. 

 Windows NT 4.0, has far less horsepower than rival systems and 
 can't handle as many users on one file server... 

 But NT 4.0 is generally considered a more robust application 
 server.  Users complain that deploying Windows NT Server 4.0 
 costs more than expected for several reasons, according to Evan 
 Bauer, an analyst at Giga Information Group in Cambridge, Mass... 

 Unlike Unix or NetWare, Windows NT Server can handle only one 
 task well, so more systems are needed to support users, Bauer said. 

 Worse, those servers require extra effort to manage. They lack 
 remote control and scripting capabilities, and their instability 
 requires rebooting once or twice per week, Bauer said, so 
 engineers must visit every console frequently.  'Management is 
 tedious and costly', he said... 

 Neil MacDonald, an analyst at Gartner Group, Inc. in Stamford, 
 Conn., concurred.  'The worst thing you could do would be to yank 
 out every legacy server  and replace it with Windows NT .  That's 
 a very risky move that places too much faith in NT', he said." 

                          ******************* 



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