NetworkWorld: Microsoft eyes Web farm management; moves on another Linux stronghold

“Microsoft on Monday completed development on a key server
designed to help enterprise customers manage distributed Web
applications. The company’s Application Center 2000 server was
released to manufacturing, which means the code is complete and
CD-ROMs are being pressed for distribution. General availability is
likely in four to six weeks.”

“AppCenter provides management tools so that a cluster of as
many as 32 Web servers can be maintained as if it were a single
machine. The server also is designed to insure fault-tolerance
for key Web applications, most notably electronic commerce. It also
works in conjunction with the load-balancing features built into
Windows 2000.”

“We’re providing a better model for Web services than big iron,”
says Bob Pulliam, Microsoft’s technical product manager for
AppCenter. “We’re providing more manageability in the mid-tier.”
Pulliam says Microsoft is now able to add a server to
Microsoft.com in about eight hours, as opposed to the
two-and-a-half days without AppCenter.”

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