Windows Server 2003 by the Numbers: One of the Biggest Product Launches in Microsoft History
From the total number of developers on the project to the average number of donuts eaten at meetings, everything you'd ever want to know about the development and launch of Windows Server 2003.
REDMOND, Wash., April 23, 2003 — The launch of Windows Server 2003 marks one of the biggest product launches in Microsoft history. The goal for Windows Server 2003 was clear: create a comprehensive, integrated and secure technology infrastructure to help customers reduce costs and increase the efficiency of IT operations. But building software to accomplish this was, quite simply, the most ambitious and complicated programming effort ever at Microsoft. Here's a quick look at some of the facts and figures that led to the Windows Server 2003 launch.
The Final Product: Numbers Speak for Themselves
Though not yet released, preliminary testing from customers and industry groups have found that the numbers they're seeing imply that all that went into developing Windows Server 2003 has paid off.
| • | Customers running beta versions of Windows Server 2003 report some noteworthy numbers: | ||||||||||||||
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| • | Number one in scalability and performance. Industry-leading Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPPC) benchmarks ranked Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2000 as the fastest 32-way online transaction servers in the world, with 658,277 transactions per minute ( www.tpc.org ), as of April 24, 2003). This achievement means that Windows Server 2003 offers the performance and scalability to operate mission critical applications with plenty of room for growth. |
Customer, Partner Input Drives Windows Server 2003 Development
Microsoft engaged the feedback from hundreds of customers, industry partners and of thousands of independent testers to help build the Windows Server 2003 family. Customer input has come from a variety of initiatives:
| • | Customer Preview Program, in which customers can order and evaluate an advance version of the product for a limited period; |
| • | Rapid Adoption Program, which provides key development customers advance code to help them plan, design, and implement support for Windows Server 2003 prior to the launch date; |
| • | Joint Development Program, which provides OEMs and software manufacturers access to production code before launch. |
Customer and Partner Fast Facts:
| • | How many copies of Windows Server 2003 preview code have been distributed? |
| • | How many customers are in the process of deploying Windows Server 2003? |
| • | What is the number of servers deployed? |
| • | How many Windows Server 2003 applications will be available at launch? |
| • | How many will be Microsoft certified within 90 days? |
| • | How many are estimated to be available six months after launch? |
| • | How many customers are taking part in the Joint Development Program (JDP)? |
| • | How many individuals have been trained and will be available to support Windows Server 2003? |
Customer Feedback from the Lab: The Enterprise Engineering Center
The Enterprise Engineering Center (EEC) is a new set of lab facilities in which Microsoft replicates real-world IT environments to test Microsoft products such as Windows Server 2003. Customers are able to validate their planned upgrades, migrations and deployments and test for compatibility and "deployment blockers," which enables Microsoft to improve the quality of its software before it is released.
"We want to make sure that our products are deployable from day one," says George Santino, Product Unit Manager, EEC. "Customers shouldn't have to wait until the release of Service Packs to realize the benefits of Microsoft products. With a facility like the EEC, we can address deployment issues before we ship the product so that customers can receive an immediate return on their IT investment."
| • | What was the first major product to undergo testing at the EEC? |
| • | How many customers tested Windows Server 2003 in the EEC? |
| • | What benefit does testing in the EEC provide to customers? |
| • | How many changes to Windows Server 2003 resulted from EEC testing? |
| • | What percent of customers indicated that they would use the EEC for product testing in the future? |
The Largest Software Development Project in Microsoft History
Todd Wanke, project manager for Windows Server, was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day development of Windows Server 2003. "My job was to make sure that, day after day, everyone on the development and testing teams was working toward the same quality milestones," says Wanke. "Quality was our primary concern. We weren't afraid to let the product release date slip if that's what we needed to do for quality."
| • | How many people were involved in the development of Windows Server 2003? |
| • | How many technology advances are built into Windows Server 2003? |
| • | How many developer resources were put towards security? |
The Daily Grind: the "War Room" Meetings
An important institution for the Windows Server 2003 development team was the "War Room," where key development, testing and management team members met to discuss issues, settle disputes and "triage" bugs - work to fix bugs identified through testing or through employee's voluntary use of the day's "build," the daily release of the most recent code base.
As overseen by Todd Wanke, the War Room was also where key decisions were made regarding what features would be shipped in Windows Server 2003, and which would be postponed till later versions. Although War Room meetings were based on camaraderie and a format of open discussion, passions often ran high. Andrew Cushman, group manager for Internet Information Services (IIS), was a frequent War Room attendee. He recalls one War Room meeting attended by visiting Microsoft employees from the company's European offices.
"Our European colleagues were astonished by the intensity of the meeting and the authority delegated to teams' War Room representatives" says Cushman. "People were very passionate about decisions made in the War Room because they understood the impact their decisions would have on thousands and millions of customers around the world."
| • | How often did War Room meetings take place? |
| • | When were builds released? |
| • | How many people met in the War Room? |
| • | How many people received Todd Wanke's daily e-mail report on the progress of Windows Server 2003? |
| • | How many Krispy Kreme doughnuts were consumed on average at a War Room meeting? |
| • | The IIS 6.0 team celebrated how many births during the three-year development process of Windows Server 2003? |
| • | What was the IIS 6.0 team's Xbox game of choice for Friday night tournaments? |
Ending with a Bang: The Largest Microsoft Server Product Launch
A project that takes three years 7,500 developers and testers and tens of million of lines of code to complete deserves a party when all is said and done. The launch of Windows Server 2003 will fittingly be the largest server launch event in the history of Microsoft.
| • | Approximately 2,500 attendees are expected at the main San Francisco launch event. |
| • | 173 other launch events will take place in 61 subsidiaries worldwide. An estimated 93,000 attendees will be present at U.S. events, with an estimated total of 168,000 attendees worldwide. |
