Microsoft: 100 companies have deployed Windows 2000

Microsoft Corporation announced Tuesday that over 100 customers have already deployed Windows 2000 in production environments, months before the operating system itself ships publicly. Companies such as Data Return, Siemens, and Banyan have deployed Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server, and Professional Edition Release Candidate 2 (RC2) within their organizations. Each company cites the increased reliability and scalability of Windows 2000 as a factor in their decision.

"These companies are betting their business on Windows 2000: That's a commitment we take very seriously. So we won't ship the product until our early adopters tell us it's ready," said Brian Valentine, vice president of Business and Enterprise Division at Microsoft. "It has to be reliable enough that these companies can run their business on it day in and day out. By working closely with these customers throughout the beta time frame, Microsoft receives a higher degree of real-world testing and feedback, on everything from application compatibility and interoperability to setup and configuration issues, before the product ships.