Microsoft Spotlights Longhorn, Palladium

Microsoft will demonstrate its much debated Next-Generation Secure Computing Base security initiative for the first time next week at a New Orleans conference, and will also give more details on its plans for managing tech systems.

At its annual Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), Microsoft tells hardware developers what it is doing with Windows. Scheduled for this year's event is more information on Longhorn, the next version of Windows for desktops, expected to ship in 2005.

Also on the agenda are the recently announced Windows CE .Net 4.2 for handheld devices and embedded systems, and Windows Real-Time Communications Server, Microsoft's instant messaging server formerly called Greenwich.

New to WinHEC this year is an "innovation room" that will have about 14 products that Microsoft and its hardware partners are working on for release over the next one to three years. They include large, high resolution displays and an "ultra mobile PC," as well as what Microsoft referred to as an "advanced communications PC."

Security Emphasis

With 18 hours of technical sessions devoted to Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB), WinHEC will be key in the development of Microsoft's hardware-based security technology, better known by its former codename Palladium. NGSCB is a combination of new hardware and software that Microsoft says will greatly improve the security of PCs, although critics have raised concerns about user privacy. NGSCB may be included in Longhorn, Microsoft has said.

"This new security product is important for Microsoft and it is important to get a demo out. This is the first time we will see what it is going to look like and we will be able to estimate what kind of an investment it is going to take to deploy Palladium," said Mike Cherry, a lead analyst at Directions on Microsoft in Kirkland, Washington.

NGSCB includes a new software component for Windows called a "nexus" and a chip that can perform cryptographic operations called the Security Support Component. The technology creates a second operating environment within a PC that is meant to protect the system from malicious code by providing secure connections between applications, peripheral hardware, memory and storage.

Future antivirus applications, for example, would be able to run in a secure execution environment to guarantee that the application is not corrupted, according to Microsoft.

The technology has attracted critics, however, who have said it could be a scourge for user freedom. NGSCB would enable stricter enforcement of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies, for example. The security chip carries a unique security key that could be used to identify a user's PC.

Newest Initiatives

Microsoft's Dynamic Systems Initiative is expected to be a focus of the keynote by Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect. The project is Microsoft's response to autonomic computing plans by IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Sun for self-healing, self-configuring and self-optimizing systems.

Companies need technology that helps them integrate and run environments more efficiently, so they can free up resources to invest in new initiatives, according to Microsoft.

"One of the chief concerns of most [chief information officers] today is that there is too much complexity in the IT environment," said Eric Berg, technical product manager for the Windows Server Group at Microsoft. The first product of the initiative is Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 software, launched last week. Other components will be rolled out over the next several years.

WinHEC also is one of two key shows where Microsoft will provide further details about Longhorn, Directions on Microsoft lead analyst Cherry said.

IDC Research Analyst Alan Promisel calls WinHEC a sort of "coming out party" for Longhorn.

"For many it will be the first opportunity to sit down and get briefed on the finer aspects of Longhorn," he said.

Other future technologies Microsoft will talk about include three-dimensional user interfaces that make it easier to work with large documents electronically, according to Gartner Fellow Martin Reynolds. The large, high resolution displays that Microsoft will show in the new Innovation Room may be a prelude to the 3D user interface.