Microsoft Announces the Release of Windows NT Workstation 4.0

Combines the Ease of Use of Windows 95 With the Power of Windows NT

Redmond, Wash. - July 31, 1996 - Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of the Microsoft® Windows NT® Workstation operating system version 4.0. Manufacturing of Windows NT Workstation 4.0 began today with general availability scheduled within the next month.

Windows NT Workstation 4.0 combines the ease of use of the Windows® 95 operating system with the reliability and security that have made Windows NT a success in the demanding workstation marketplace. International Data Corp. (IDC) recently reported that in 1995, shipments of Windows NT Workstation exceeded the combined workstation shipments of the two largest competitors, Sun Microsystems Inc. and SGI. IDC expects a 47 percent growth rate in Windows NT Workstation in the workstation market between 1995 and 2000. This momentum is due in part to wide-scale adoption of the open development environment of Windows NT 4.0, leading to support of over 6,000 different types of hardware.

The combination of Windows NT power and the Windows 95 user interface makes this latest version an ideal choice for mainstream business computing. This release also includes built-in networking support, providing secure, easy access to the Internet and corporate intranets. New administrative features now make it easier to manage and control, which helps reduce the total cost of operation.

"Today's announcement is great news for our corporate customers, many of whom deploy a mix of Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation to get both the broad compatibility of Windows 95 and the power of Windows NT Workstation," said Jim Allchin, senior vice president of the desktop and business systems division at Microsoft.

Enhancements in Windows NT Workstation 4.0

The newest version of Windows NT Workstation includes these benefits:

• Greater ease of use with the Windows 95 user interface, including the familiar Start button, Taskbar, Shortcuts, Network Neighborhood, My Computer and more. Windows NT Workstation also includes Windows NT Explorer, providing users a hierarchical view, or tree, of each drive and folder on the computer, including network drives, making information management simple.
• Built-in access to the Internet and corporate intranets. Microsoft Internet Explorer is the easy-to-use browser designed for 32-bit Windows that provides easy and secure Internet access. Peer Web Services enable low-volume personal Web publishing in corporate intranets. PWS is tightly integrated into the Windows NT security model, ensuring safe and secure sharing of information.
• Easy to manage and control. User Profiles and System Policies allow system administrators to manage user desktops easily, including the ability to control access to the network and desktop resources as well as support for users roaming between multiple workstations. Also included is Setup Manager, a new utility that assists system administrators in creating installation scripts which reduce the time and effort required for deployment, as well as an improved version of the Windows NT Diagnostics Program to allow fast, remote desktop troubleshooting. These built-in tools help administrators reduce the total cost of ownership of distributed PCs.

Expanded Programs and Policies Target Smooth Corporate Migration

To make it easier for corporate customers to adopt and use both Windows NT Workstation and Windows 95, Microsoft has introduced the Designed for Windows NT and Windows 95 Logo program. This logo program is an evolution of the Designed for Windows 95 logo and signifies to customers that the products they acquire function on Windows NT Workstation 4.0 and Windows 95, and offer the benefits of 32-bit systems when they are run on either version of Windows.

Users of Windows NT Workstation version 4.0 will also benefit from an expanded support policy that raises the number of no-charge support incidents from one to two.

Pricing and Availability

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0 will be available within the next month for approximately $319. The price for customers upgrading from previous versions of Windows NT Workstation is approximately $149. For customers who have inadvertently used Windows NT Workstation 3.x as a server (with more than 10 inbound connections), a special promotional upgrade to Windows NT Server 4.0 is available for 90 days at $409.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

Microsoft, Windows NT and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Microsoft Announces the Release of Windows NT Server 4.0

Windows NT Server 4.0 Brings Customers Vast Improvements in Ease of Use, Performance and Intranet Functionality

Redmond, Wash. - July 31, 1996 - Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of Windows NT® Server 4.0, the latest version of the world's best-selling server operating system. This release brings customers unmatched ease of use and management, higher network throughput, and a complete set of tools for developing and managing intranets. Manufacturing of Microsoft® Windows NT Server 4.0 began today, with general availability anticipated within the next month.

According to International Data Corp. (IDC) Windows NT Server led in server operating system shipments in 1995 and again in first-quarter 1996, outselling other server operating systems including NetWare 3®, NetWare 4 and all versions of UNIX combined. Windows NT Server growth is most evident in its year-over-year sales increase of 154 percent from first-quarter 1995 to first-quarter 1996.

Integrated Intranet Solution

Windows NT Server 4.0 is the only server operating system to include built-in Web services that provide a complete, integrated intranet solution. Windows NT Server 4.0 includes Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) version 2.0, currently in use by more than 200,000 users. Other intranet features include the Microsoft FrontPage™ 1.1 Web authoring and management tool, the latest version of the tool for creating and managing Web sites, and Microsoft Index Server, a content indexing and querying search engine (available from the Web).

Analysts believe Windows NT Server 4.0 is positioned to capture a significant percentage of intranet server sales, which will fuel its strong growth. According to a recent study conducted by MSI International Inc., an independent marketing research firm, adoption of intranets will grow by 150 percent by year end.

"The concept of the intranet is dominating the thoughts of IT managers trying to improve both employee productivity and the competitive performance of their companies," said Rob Enderle, senior industry analyst at the Giga Information Group. "With this release, Microsoft has effectively targeted these intranet needs with a highly integrated, low-cost platform. As a result, we expect Windows NT Server 4.0 will be the preferred choice for most IT organizations."

Enhancements in Windows NT Server 4.0

"Windows NT Server 4.0 is a major milestone in our development. It is substantially faster, much easier to use and incorporates significantly new intranet functionality," said Jim Allchin, senior vice president, desktop and business systems division at Microsoft. "With over 200,000 beta users, this is the most widely tested version of Windows NT. Because of rigorous testing and substantial customer feedback, Windows NT 4.0 is the most robust version of Windows NT we have ever shipped."

Windows NT Server 4.0 offers scalability improvements of up to 33 percent, yielding more linear scalability on machines with eight or more processors. The additional fine tuning for the Pentium® Pro platforms to ensure high performance makes Windows NT Server 4.0 optimized for this type of hardware.

"The combination of Pentium Pro processors and Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 delivers superb value and price/performance," said John McNulty, director of enterprise server programs at Intel Corp. "The scalability and performance of Windows NT Server 4.0 on Pentium Pro processors will continue to fuel the strong industrywide adoption of Windows NT Server and will help further drive the growth rates for Pentium Pro processors and standard high-volume servers."

Windows NT Server 4.0 provides features to reduce the number of steps required for a system administrator to install, use and manage a server. It offers a set of Internet and intranet tools and improved performance as an applications, file, print and communications server. Enhancements include the following:

• The Windows® 95 user interface and new management wizards. These enhancements make Windows NT Server 4.0 one of the easiest server operating systems to use and manage.
• Performance and scalability improvements. Windows NT Server 4.0 offers significant scalability improvements over Windows NT Server 3.51, achieving considerably higher performance on four-processor machines and offering much more linear scalability on machines with eight or more processors. File server performance in Windows NT Server 4.0 also shows dramatic gains, achieving more than twice the throughput of Windows NT Server 3.51 (tests were performed using Netbench™ 4.0).
• Improved Internet and intranet communications. Microsoft Internet Information Server 2.0, the fastest Web server for Windows NT Server, offers up to 40 percent greater performance than its predecessor, version 1.0. Also added are Web browser-based remote server administration and Index Server, a searching technology that offers automatic content indexing of HTML pages and other documents stored on corporate intranet servers, such as those created in Microsoft Office. Windows NT Server 4.0 also includes Microsoft FrontPage 1.1, allowing nonprogrammers as well as experienced developers to create and manage professional-quality Web sites. The Distributed Component Object Model is one other key addition to Windows NT Server 4.0. The Component Object Model (COM) allows software developers to create component-based applications. Distributed COM in Windows NT Server 4.0extends COM to allow components to securely communicate across the Internet. Distributed COM is a growing Internet standard, and it has been published in conformance with the format specified in RFC 1543. A completely new version of DNS includes a graphical administration utility and integration with WINS services for dynamic updates of host names and addresses. To enable the creation of virtual private networks across the Internet, Windows NT Server 4.0 offers point-to-point tunneling protocol (PPTP), a technology that extends the capacity of RAS to enable secure, low-cost private networks without the need to change the client software.

Pricing and Availability

Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 is scheduled to be available within the next month for approximately $1,129 for the new 10-user version. Customers with previous versions of Windows NT Server can upgrade to version 4.0 for approximately $539 for the 10-user version. Additional information on pricing for Windows NT Server 4.0 is available at http://microsoft.com/ntserver/40price.htm

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

Microsoft, Windows NT, FrontPage and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corp.

Netbench is a trademark of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company L.P.