Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT - news) today announced the availability of the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Datacenter Server beta 2 release to industry partners including server hardware vendors, IHVs, ISVs and research institutes. Windows 2000 Datacenter Server is Microsoft´s operating system for the most demanding levels of availability and scalability. Delivery of beta 2 to qualified Datacenter Server hardware vendors enables them to provide a complete evaluation platform to beta and Joint Development Program (JDP) participants for high-end enterprise computing solutions, such as large dotcoms, application service providers, online transaction processing, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, data warehousing, enterprise messaging and server consolidation.

``The availability of beta 2 and the launch of the Datacenter JDP is a key milestone toward completing the validation of all the elements of the Windows Datacenter Program,´´ said Michel Gambier, group product manager of Enterprise Server Marketing at Microsoft. ``Working closely with our industry partners, beta and JDP customers, our objective is not only to test the operating system, but also the Datacenter Hardware Compatibility Test and services framework of the program.´´

Read more