Major corporations, governments and small businesses face varying risks and benefits with Windows 2000 and migration timing, says the Gartner Group. The keys to success are in fully analysing return on investment, building an overall rollout plan, and following best practices in the migration process. In most cases, the most cost-effective strategy for deploying Windows 2000 will be a phased migration that deploys new or replacement systems with Windows 2000, as opposed to upgrading installed systems.

"Our clients are cautious about upgrading to new releases," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president in Gartner Group's personal and distributed technologies area. "While we believe Windows 2000 Professional will prove relatively stable prior to Service Pack 1, compatibility testing, problem resolution and staff training will take at least several months for most enterprises. Windows 2000 may be ready for the enterprise, but many enterprises aren't yet ready for Windows 2000."

Gartner predicts that by the end of this year, between 15% and 20% of the 1999 commercial installed base of 32-bit Windows (desktops and laptops) will be upgraded or refreshed with Windows 2000 Professional, and between 40 percent and 45 percent by year-end 2001.

Gartner has created a Windows 2000 section on its web site that examines the various issues surrounding the platform. This site provides Gartner Group's detailed Windows 2000 analysis on performance and price issues. This information can be found at http://www.gartner.com/public/static/win2000/win2000.html.

Richard Byatt