Early adopters of Windows Server 2003 (WS 2003) will see better performance and security, according to tests of final code in the IT Week Labs. However, administrators may face compatibility problems.

File serving is an average 20 per cent faster with WS 2003 than with Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and the product's integrated IIS 6.0 Web server shows an 11 per cent improvement over previous versions, as well as better security.

IIS is not installed by default and after installation it runs in a locked-down mode with security features activated and access levels protected. Because of these changes, early adopters need to thoroughly regression test web applications for interoperability.

Other security features include a firewall, the ability to control software on other infrastructure servers in the domain, and a system to prevent weak passwords.

The Enterprise Edition of WS 2003 tested by IT Week supports up to eight-way servers. The upcoming Datacenter Edition will support 32-way systems.

Our WebBench 4.1 benchmark showed WS 2003 can handle more requests and greater client loads than previous versions, even in our entry-level test using a uniprocessor 1.3GHz Pentium III Dell PowerEdge 2550 with 512MB Ram.

Microsoft hopes Windows NT 4.0 users will adopt the operating system and leapfrog Windows 2000 Server. Microsoft's acquisition of Connectix's virtual machine technology offers an upgrade path by allowing NT apps to run on a virtual server under WS 2003.

There are two licensing models to consider: payment per server, with each concurrent connection requiring a client-access licence; or payment per device or user.

Some UK buyers who have worked with Microsoft in beta testing are already deploying WS 2003.

Among the first is the Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (Ceme), a new government-backed educational institution. It has been working with Microsoft and services partner Civica for the past 18 months.

"We approached many suppliers [but] decided to base our business on Microsoft products," said Roy Sharples, IT lead at Ceme.

"Windows 2003 Server was chosen for its low management costs, strong support for streaming media, and close relationship with the family of enterprise server products that make use of its features."

Though driver support is often a problem when deploying new operating systems, Ceme's experience has been "excellent", said Sharples. Its systems include a Cisco 802.11 wireless Local area network, a Cisco voice-over-IP system, PDAs and digital cameras.

But Ceme did find "some constraints" on compatibility with Microsoft products such as Exchange and SharePoint Portal Server, Sharples added.