As mentioned previously in WinInfo, Internet mega-portal Lycos announced that it has chosen products from Microsoft and Intel as its primary technology platform for the Lycos Network, which reaches nearly half of all U.S. Web users. Lycos will run its Internet presence on Windows 2000 systems with the soon-to-be released Application Center 2000, using Intel Pentium III and Pentium III Xeon hardware. Lycos said that it chose the Wintel solution over the more traditional UNIX-based solutions because of its added performance, increased stability, and greater reliability. Lycos reaches over 32 million individual users every month and is widely acknowledged to be one of the top five most visited sites on the Internet. The announcement is a major triumph for Microsoft, which is trying to win recognition for Windows 2000.
"Lycos selected Microsoft and Intel not only because they deliver a rich user experience and help us meet our aggressive goals with new-product implementation, but also because their e-business solution makes economic sense, both in terms of capital expense and operating expense," said Lycos CIO Tim Wright. "We're looking forward to continuing our relationship with Microsoft and Intel, utilizing their e-business solutions to help us deliver industry-leading services to our customers." The Lycos e-business solution was developed and deployed by Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) and will receive ongoing support from Microsoft Premier Support Services (PSS). "Microsoft is delivering an e-business platform that helps businesses realize growth and profitability today, while preparing for the .NET software services of tomorrow," said Peter Boit, the vice president of e-commerce solutions for Microsoft.
Indeed, Lycos will rely heavily on XML, which is the basis for Microsoft's .NET initiative. The company says that it will capitalize on .NET software and services opportunities as they become available
