Microsoft .Net Enterprise Server -- Microsoft's application server and development offering -- is designed to allow Internet access at any time and place by treating applications as services and letting disparate Web sites integrate seamlessly. In June, the product entered "Public Beta 2," which means it is available for anyone to obtain. Microsoft is aiming to release a final form by the end of the year.

Microsoft's solution is comprehensive and powerful, providing the tools needed to develop and deploy applications rapidly -- and at a considerably lower cost than that of other products. However, the product does not support Java and supports only Microsoft platforms. These factors might significantly affect the product's acceptance. Still, given Microsoft's dominance in the market, its Java direction may not much matter for organizations committed to a Microsoft strategy.

The .Net solution offers extensive performance features. Data, results and local objects can be stored in cache memory for fast access and retrieval. The product supports database connection and (native) thread pooling, and can manage these pools dynamically. .Net servers support simple and weighted round-robin and performance- and load-based algorithms for load-balancing. Configuring for high availability and failover can be done at the Web server, application server, component and session levels. For measuring latency and QoS, customizable performance-monitoring tools and extensive logging capabilities are included.

.Net's development tools let developers generate HTML, DHTML (Dynamic HTML), XML (Extensible Markup Language), WML (Wireless Markup Language), ActiveX components, ASP (Active Server Page) and ASP+ pages, as well as build and assemble COM and COM+ components. The product supports JavaScript, JScript and VBScript, while other programming languages, such as PERL and Python, are supported through integration with third-party products. All the product's development tools run on Windows only, are wizard-based and facilitate easy development by incorporating drag-and-drop functionality. (For more on this initiative, see "Microsoft Looks to Snag Developers, Dollars in its .Net".)

.Net Enterprise Beta 1, $24,999 (BizTalk Enterprise); $4,999 (BizTalk Standard). Microsoft Corp., (425) 882-8080. www.microsoft.com