Companies installingWindows Server 2008may have to buy
extra Microsoft software, such asWindows
Vista, to use more advanced features, analyst
firm Gartner has said.
John Enck, research director at Gartner, said that although
making additional investments would not be a barrier to using the
operating system, companies should be clear that installing Windows
Server 2008 could influence their future choice of software
applications.
"Combining Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 in the same
environment strengthens TCP/IP networking, network access
protection and administering policies as well as quality of service
settings. However, Windows Server also provides 'plumbing' that
influences the selection of other products," he said.
Enck said companies using an existing combination of Microsoft
applications may find that this drives the move to Windows Server
2008.
"An organisation that deploys Exchange could find itself
managing
Active Directory, which is required by Exchange, and therefore
decide to further leverage Windows Server technology. We have seen
the deployment of
SQL Server and Sharepoint drive Windows Server adoption."
Enck said the move from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server
2008 would not be as challenging as the move from NT4 to Windows
Server 2000 as most of the improvements are "low level".
The biggest challenge those moving to Windows Server 2008 will
face will be making sure that their 32-bit applications run under
the operating system's 64-bit environment.
"Most but not all 32-bit applications will work in a 64-bit
operating system environment. Gartner encourages organisations that
are unable to sufficiently qualify or test their application
environments to continue deploying a 32-bit version of Windows
Server until they can verify application support for 64-bit
operations," Enck said.