The next Inter.net

The Internet as we know it today is a collection of servers, a couple million devices, and a network infrastructure keeping the two groups in contact with one another. The foundation of the Internet is a simple architecture that has proved its efficiency over time through its astounding popularity.

However, this simple foundation appears to be reaching an inflection point. This ubiquitous system is now clearly understood, and has been pushed to its limit. While developers want to do more with the Internet, the current architecture does not allow for many of the exciting things that they want it to do.

Microsoft is also at an inflection point. Its desktop software business has stood it in good stead, but it has saturated that market space. The Windows 2000 initiative is its way of pushing up the computing scale into servers and data centres, while Windows CE and derivatives thereof are pushing down to smaller, simpler devices.

For these multiple devices and servers to work together, Microsoft needs the Internet, but not the Internet as we know it.

Hence .Net, Microsoft`s new strategy for an Internet architecture that will be capable of delivering the promise of connecting a host of new devices to a plethora of new servers, offering the next wave of services.

"We think the Internet is in its most basic form today," says Mark Hill, MD of Microsoft South Africa. ".Net gives vision and leadership to the Internet."

It is important to note that Microsoft is not alone in its goals of creating a fresh Internet architecture. Sun Microsystems, Novell, IBM and others are all heading in the same direction.

The industry acceptance of a need for new technology to evolve the Internet does create competition for Microsoft`s .Net strategy, but it also helps the software giant, in the form of standards.

Various standards have already been ironed out that will help Microsoft deliver on its .Net infrastructure. The most important is undoubtedly XML (extensible mark-up language), a vendor-independent data language that will help Microsoft speak to many of the third-party and home-grown services it needs to make its vision become a reality.

It will facilitate communications between Microsoft and Sun, Sun and Novell, and between every other vendor keen on taking on the challenge of creating a .Net-like architecture.

Microsoft`s .Net architecture will not exist in a vacuum. It will be a portion of a larger infrastructure, similar to Microsoft`s current position in the Internet server space.

The basis of Microsoft`s architectural plan is to create two abstraction layers in the Internet. These two layers will sit between the clients and servers. The devices will talk to a layer called "User experiences", while the servers will interface with a layer termed "Web services". The User experiences layer will communicate directly with, and rely heavily on, the Web services platform.

The Web services is currently the most developed of the two platforms, with Microsoft having recently released what it calls "Hailstorm" - seven foundation services based on open standards that will allow Web developers to perform various complex tasks without having to develop them from scratch. The most established service, Microsoft Passport, is already used by Microsoft to identify users across its multiple Web platforms, including Hotmail and MSN.

Under the Hailstorm banner, Passport is joined by a directory and search service, a personalisation service, software delivery service, calendaring service, schematic storage service, and notification and messaging service.

Other services developed by third-parties also fall under the .Net banner, and will include notification, storage and authentication services both across the Internet and in internal intranets. Some third-party products already developed include a geographic mapping service, a credit card statement service and a Greenwich Mean Time service. Billing, sales and knowledge management services will appear in the internal intranet arena in the future.

The implications of the User experience layer are harder to understand than the Web services portion of the .Net architecture. According to Hill, the User experience will result in a consistency for the individual between multiple sites. Every site will be able to extract the information it needs from the Web services layer to provide an individual experience catering to a particular profile.

The benefits outweigh the potential risks, whether perceived or real.

Mark Hill, MD, Microsoft SA

MSN currently records personal information, such as name, location, phone numbers and buddy list. This could be extended to include dental records, frequent flyer miles, credit card details, and more.

Having personal details recorded on the Internet and sitting in Microsoft`s databases will be of concern to some. "The benefits outweigh the potential risks, whether perceived or real," says Hill. "We use all of the standard Internet procedures and security protocols. We are a company that has a lot of respect and standing in the industry, and we are not about to abuse that. We`ve proved over 20 years that we`re a respectful business."

Apart from creating personal content for the end-user, the User experience layer has another important task: that of giving a consistent experience over multiple devices. "We are moving into a world where there is massive device proliferation," comments Hill.

Microsoft hopes to give users an experience as rich as the desktop on all devices, through its abstraction layer.

Click here to look at Microsoft`s .Net Platform

Although Microsoft`s competitors in this new space will, in theory, be able to communicate with Microsoft products, the market will probably only be dominated by three or four major players.

Gartner estimates that "by 2003, more than 75% of Web services in production will be supported by Web-services infrastructures provided by IBM, Microsoft, or two or three other vendors," according to a report entitled "IBM steps into the Web-services arena".

Web services will be a hotly contested area, while, according to Microsoft, its User experience layer remains largely uncontested. The company sees this as its strategic advantage.

The Sun user experience is developed and defined through iPlanet`s Portal Server, which is integrated with smart Web-services.

Lodewyk de Beer, enterprise architect, Sun Microsystems

However, Lodewyk de Beer, enterprise architect at Sun Microsystems South Africa, says: "The Sun user experience is developed and defined through iPlanet`s Portal Server, which is integrated with smart Web services, and is part of the [SunOne] philosophy."

Most likely, the battle for dominance will be played out in the development tools arena. This is a fight that Microsoft is used to fighting, with its quick-to-market applications winning the desktop and network operating system wars with Macintosh and Novell, respectively. It is no surprise that its VisualStudio.Net development suite is an integral part of the .Net plan, and it is equally no surprise that it has been completely revamped, with C# as the primary development language.

For IBM, this could be a stumbling block. Its development tools are known as being sophisticated, but also difficult to use, learn and support. IBM has recognised this as being a serious strategic barrier, and plans to provide a set of tools in the second half of this year that will allow developers to automatically generate Web services from existing applications.

There is a war out there right now.

Mark Hill, MD, Microsoft SA</SPAN>

"There is a war out there right now," comments Microsoft`s Hill. "We need to get users and independent software vendors to use our development tools. Without a doubt, that`s where the war is at the moment in the development space."

IBM appears to hold two advantages over Microsoft, despite its weak development front. The first is a disassociation from committing to a specific technology. While Microsoft is relying on SOAP (Simple Object Architecture Protocol - a derivative of XML), IBM will support SOAP and any other protocol that looks like it may emerge as a potential standard. It also has not committed to either Sun or Microsoft technologies. It is not sitting on the fence: it has decided to back all potential winners.

Its second advantage is its evolutionary approach to Web services, while Microsoft`s move has been tagged as revolutionary. With revolution comes both risk and a high barrier-to-entry in both skills and required technology for Microsoft users.

[Users] must choose either Sun`s J2EE or Microsoft`s COM+/DNA/.Net as their primary enterprise application integration framework.

Meta Group

C# (Microsoft`s new programming language) and Common Language Runtime - the building blocks of .Net - will most likely bang heads with Sun`s J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition). According to a report by Meta, "user organisations must choose either Sun`s J2EE or Microsoft`s COM+/DNA/.Net as their primary enterprise application integration framework. Making the right choice will increase agility and provide significant competitive advantage by first quarter, 2002." The report suggests that the choice, while it needs to be well researched, will be particular to each organisation.

With both .Net and SunOne, the goal is exactly the same.

Lodewyk de Beer, enterprise architect, Sun Microsystems</P>

Sun`s SunOne strategy sounds a lot like Microsoft`s Web services architecture, and Sun even refers to its own strategy as ".Now" and Microsoft`s as ".NotYet" to goad its opposition. Whether Sun`s strategy came about as a reaction to Microsoft`s .Net is still debated (Sun says SunOne is just an extension of its "The network is the computer" ethos), but either way, both players are making a move for this market.

"With both .Net and SunOne, the goal is exactly the same," comments De Beer.

Sun has announced that it plans to support ebXML - a standard that will enable it to create Web services with its Java language. Java has also been recognised as a natural Web services language that will slot into this arena with ease.

Gartner warns Sun, however, that if it doesn`t support ebXML and some elements of SOAP, it could "find itself isolated, as the Java platform settles into the role of the intra-application component architecture, while the enterprise-wide and global B2B architectures would be controlled by the new Web-services specifications." Gartner expects Sun to react to this possibility by fully supporting Web services standards (SOAP and ebXML) by the end of the year.

The excitement in the Web services arena is generated more by the strength that dominance in this area could provide, rather than massive sales in Web services or User experience products. .Net is an important strategy for driving the sales of back-end servers for Microsoft, while its slew of new device operating systems will also benefit from .Net`s support.

"This area is absolutely critical," says Sun`s De Beer. "In the new millennium, the direction is to go with heterogeneous access onto the network. In the future, growth is not going to come from selling desktop environments; it is going to be equipping service providers with all these gateways that understand access mechanisms. That implies that these service providers are using your technology - using your hardware and servers. We want growth in high-end back-end systems. We want the back-end. We want that mind share and market share. I`m sure Microsoft will tell you they want the same thing."

According to studies, Microsoft is almost guaranteed success in its .Net endeavours, and will be a serious part of the next generation of the Internet. Its competitors will not take this lying down, however, and we can expect the battle of technologies and marketing to increase over time.

Microsoft is already facing opposition from its foe ProComp, a group of companies that oppose Microsoft`s alleged monopoly, which has released a white paper attacking the .Net architecture.

The paper claims that the .Net strategy will lock users into Microsoft`s desktop operating system, and vice versa. "Never before has Microsoft had so many initiatives in place at the same time - Windows XP, Office XP, MSN Messenger, MSN Explorer, Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer 6.0, .Net and HailStorm. Never before has Microsoft had the ability to leverage at least three separate monopolies. And never before have the stakes been as high - embracing and extending the Internet itself," states the white paper, entitled "Microsoft`s expanding monopolies: casting a wider .Net" (which incidentally covers Microsoft`s .Net strategy very clearly and succinctly).

The stakes are high for Microsoft, as well as others after this market. "It`s a bold but very broad and all-describing architecture. It`s extensive. It makes us unique," says Hill.

Click here to see Microsoft`s .Net Foundation Services