CRN Exclusive: Ballmer Talks About the Next .Net Building BlockPRNewswire CRN, CMP Media's news weekly for builders of technology solutions, is reporting that Microsoft is at work on another major .Net building block -- a B2B "corporate federation" service. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked about the .Net Corporate Federation service, in a wide-ranging interview with CRN. The story is on CRN's web site at: http://www.crn.com/Sections/BreakingNews/BreakingNews.asp?ArticleID=26729. Ballmer says the .Net Corporate Federation service, due in 2003-the same time as the fully .Net-enabled version of Windows, code-named Blackcomb-will enable sharing privileges among customers, manufacturers and suppliers in a .Net Web service value chain. Solution providers and software developers can exploit .Net by writing Hailstorm applications and integrating Hailstorm services and future .Net Corporate Federation services into networks they set up for customers, says Ballmer. "Channel partners can build .Net and Hailstorm applications, and for those channel partners who are more involved with infrastructure, when they set up someone's network, they'll set up their participation in Hailstorm," Steve Ballmer says. "If they set up Active Directory for an architectural office or law office, they'll set up the federated privileges between .Net services out in the cloud and the Active Directory they set up in the office. As the systems integrator, I can set up the sharing rules from the LAN to the wide-area environment." Ballmer says the planned release of Hailstorm software developer kits (SDKs) at the company's Professional Developers' Conference this fall is intended to stimulate mass adoption of the company's Web services technology by the software development community. Microsoft is gunning to have Hailstorm operational by the first half of 2002, with single sign-on, e-wallet and notification services just some of the initial Web services available for developers, solution providers and customers, Ballmer says. About CRN CRN is the nation's leading trade newsweekly that provides breaking industry news and analysis for solution providers, integrators and e-businesses driving the economy. It is the most trusted source of news for 117,500 channel professionals. A media leader in the high-tech industry, CRN provides the most comprehensive suite of online resources: CRN.com , the site where industry news breaks first; CRN Direct, a daily newspaper that brings personalized news to solution providers' desktops; and CRN News Radio, a daily news broadcast covering the solution provider channel and the industry. CMP Media LLC (http://www.cmpnet.com/) is a leading high-tech media company providing essential information and marketing services to the entire technology spectrum-the builders, sellers and users of technology worldwide. Capitalizing on its editorial strength, CMP is uniquely positioned to offer marketers comprehensive, integrated media solutions tailored to meet their individual needs. Its diverse products and services include newspapers, magazines, Internet products, research, direct marketing services, education and training, trade shows and conferences, custom publishing, testing and consulting. SOURCE: CMP Media Inc. Contact: Steve Burke for CRN, 781-839-1221 Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/181993.html or fax, |