Feature List

(contributed by Mark Joseph Edwards, mje@winntmag.com)

Planned features in both NT Server and NT Workstation

• Plug and play integrated into the code base
• New hardware wizard and Device Manager
• Support for Universal Serial Bus
• Unified Win32 Driver Model for NT Workstation 5.0 and Win98
• Support for new hardware, including DVD, ACPI, and MMX processors
• New accessibility tools
• DirectX 5.0
• Internet Explorer 4.0
• NDIS 5.0 support with extensions for ATM
• Win95 upgrade path, including preservation of device, system, and application settings
• Automatic application installation
• My Documents folder for each user
• Windows Scripting Host, supporting VB and Java, among others
• NTFS improvements, including quotas, defragmentation, and compressed network I/O
• FAT32 support for disk drives larger than 2GB
• Distributed File System (DFS) support

  - Single trees that include multiple servers and shares
  - Logical naming capabilities
  - Easier network browsing

• Management Console

  - Support for snap-in management modules
  - Replaces standalone administrative tools
  - Provides a common interface for third-party tools

• Web-based enterprise management
• SID-based file and folder system encryption
• Seagate backup utility that writes to a wide variety of storage media
• Storage Management

  - Hierarchical storage management
  - Dynamic volume management
  - Changer media services

• Enhanced search capabilities employing Active Directory
• New graphical Scheduler for automating tasks
• Support for Smart Card technology
• Support for Kerberos 5.0
• I20 architecture using a dedicated processor to offload I/O from main processors

 Features planned for NT Server 5.0 only

• Active Directory Service

  - Multimaster replication
  - Granular security delegation
  - High-level programming interfaces
  - LDAP 3 support
  - Integrated Dynamic DNS server
  - COM/DCOM and Java class store

• Clustering technology

  - Supports up to two servers in a cluster

• Enhanced SMP support for eight processors
• 4GB memory tuning
• 64-bit Very Large Memory (VLM) support for accessing up to 32GB of memory, available for DEC Alpha versions only
• Public Key Certificate Server

  - Integrates with Active Directory
  - X.509 based

• Support for IPSEC, the next generation of the IP protocol