TechNet Home > Core IT Services > Internet Business

Microsoft Solution for Internet Business

Overview

Published: October 1, 2002

Introduction

In today's business environment, many companies are looking to computer automation as a means of better serving their customers, improving efficiency, reducing costs, and providing a positive impact for their company. Microsoft Solution for Internet Business (MSIB) was developed in response to emerging business models that have transformed Internet sites from relatively simple structures of linked HTML pages to complex, feature-rich applications that not only provide content and automate business processes such as selling and purchasing, but also provide personalization and collect data for analysis. MSIB is an integrated solution that is built by using high-quality Microsoft® Windows Server System™ products to provide end-to-end processes and features for sophisticated Internet sites. Working with a Microsoft MSIB-trained partner, you can design and implement the MSIB solution that works best for your business needs.

Top of page

A Complete Solution

MSIB provides a single infrastructure that facilitates the rapid creation, deployment, and management of external and internal facing portals. By using MSIB, you can build dynamic, full-feature Web sites that are extensible, scalable, standards based, and template driven. The products included in MSIB are designed to enable you to manage, analyze, personalize, and target the content on your Web site, and to manage and analyze the users who visit your site. While MSIB implements certain features and functionality of Microsoft products, you are not limited to using only those features included in the solution. If you want to use features and functionality that are available in Microsoft products, but are not included in MSIB, you can activate them as part of your customized Internet business solution. (Your support services agreement must also include the additional features and functionality.)

At a high level, MSIB provides the following:

•	Integration components. MSIB is specifically designed for corporate Web sites and for government and education portals. You can tailor these types of sites to accommodate your specific requirements, from basic to enterprise-level sites, with and without product catalogs.
•	Proven prescriptive guidance. MSIB is extensively tested by Microsoft and implemented at customer sites to ensure high quality.
•	Delivery by experienced consultants. Using MSIB trained and experienced consultants ensures that your Web site is developed quickly and correctly the first time.
•	Post-implementation support. After your Web site goes live, you will have a single point of contact for support, and enterprise-quality support options are available to make sure that your Web site stays up and running.

MSIB takes advantage of a best-of-breed approach that enables you to build the most comprehensive solution with a variety of solution partners. MSIB is highly scalable and reliable, through its unique dynamic server clustering capabilities, to ensure maximum performance and availability for mission-critical Web applications. It provides modular capabilities that separate Web site design, content creation, and publishing, so that members of your organization can focus on their respective areas of expertise, thus providing increased Web site quality and increased business efficiency.

Further, MSIB does not limit the type of site that you develop. For example, MSIB meets the needs of corporate Internet sites, government and education portals, and customer service sites. You can also use MSIB to rapidly create prototype sites, using a prospective customer's own logo and product catalog, and even replicate the look and navigation of the customer's existing site. After the customer approves the site, you can add features and functionality to the prototype and move it into production. No code or time is wasted in developing the prototype.

Integration Service, ISV Partners, and Hosting Partners

Microsoft partnered with leading system integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs), and hosting partners to provide services that assist organizations to rapidly deploy MSIB. For a comprehensive list of solution partners, see the Microsoft MSIB Web site at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=10442.

Viewing the MSIB Documentation

Microsoft Word or the free Microsoft Word 97/2000 Viewer is required to view the following MSIB documents. The Word 97/2000 Viewer is available for download on the Microsoft Office downloads Web site at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=10276. These files are also available in Word format from on http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=10774.

Top of page

This document provides information about deploying Microsoft Solution for Internet Business (MSIB) version 2.0, and provides prescriptive guidance for installing the software and configuring each server as part of an MSIB deployment. MSIB 2.0 provides flexibility in the prescribed deployment architectures so that you can implement your own variation of the deployment.

Operations Guide

This guide provides solution operations for Microsoft Solution for Internet Business (MSIB) version 2.0. It focuses on ongoing operational activities relating to your MSIB deployment. It also discusses data lifecycles and best practices in managing MSIB databases and data files.

Top of page