What is .NET?

In Microsoft terminology .NET is a set of Microsoft software technologies for connecting your world of information, people, systems, and devices. It enables an unprecedented level of software integration through the use of XML Web services: small, discrete, building-block applications that connect to each other—as well as to other, larger applications—via the Internet.

And if I will play with words, I will say .NET is a full-featured service platform for building, deploying web-based applications across the Internet and intranet and the platform for developing rich interactive experiences for users and their systems.

. NET includes servers, services, a platform of development tools and systems, and sometimes - where there is direct user interaction - clients

In this article we will look at the servers provided with .NET.

There are at present 11 .NET servers. Some of these are primarily Internet servers, but most - Host Integration, SharePoint, Exchange, and SQL Servers. Lets check them up one by one. 

• Microsoft Windows 2000 and the Microsoft Windows .NET Server family is used to build, deploy, manage, and run web services.
• Microsoft Application Center 2000 is used to deploy and manage highly available and scalable Web applications. "AppCenter" is a great way to manage sites, handling the details and complexities of clustering, scale-out, and high-availability (HA). It allows you to treat multiple servers effectively as one box, which makes it a boon even for smaller IT shops who want a HA web presence without using highly specialized hardware or becoming a clustering expert. If you can manage single servers effectively, AppCenter will help you manage a cluster.
• Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 is used to build XML-based business processes across applications and organizations.It is a rich featured server allows graphical management of the processes.There are integrated queuing (or IBM MQSeries), support for EDI and XML, and both short- and long-term transactions. If you're doing B2B, or looking into it, BizTalk can help. By the way, it's a too-well-kept secret that BizTalk works within organizations too; it's a great way to move documents and data through disjointed processes.
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 is used for messaging. I’m a big fan of Exchange with rich clients (Outlook); in a modern era business can`t be think without mail, word processor or spreadsheet.
• Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000 is used as a network tool for secure, fast Internet connectivity, with versions for small businesses and for the enterprise. This server is not very well taken through in market. At the Core it consists of multilayer firewall and a web cache, it's easily configured, extended, or even programmed via COM.
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is used to store, retrieve, and analyze structured data. It's got great performance and powerful business-intelligence tools, and it's very easy to use as compared to other RDBMS. You probably know a lot about this already.
• Microsoft Commerce Server 2000 is used for quickly building scalable e-commerce solutions. If you're running your own B2B or B2C site, Commerce Server lets you profile and target customers, build, import, or integrate a product catalog, deploy a variety of content, model your internal processing workflow, and analyze click and order data as part of a mission-critical environment.
• Microsoft Host Integration Server 2000 is used for bridging data and applications on legacy systems. So if you are playing with those heavy computers Host Integration Server connect it to the Windows world.
• Microsoft Content Management Server 2001 is used to manage content for web sites, e-business, and otherwise. Content is stored separately from presentation templates, which facilitates not only changes in design but also the building of multilingual sites.
• Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2001 to find, share, and publish business information; the "Portal" in the name refers to corporate (internal) portals. It ties in directly to Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer on the desktop. It integrates easily with the other .NET servers, albeit not in an all-on-one-box configuration.
• Microsoft Mobile Information 2001 Server to bring the corporate intranet to mobile devices such as cell phones and do so securely. In particular, keep your PIM information up to-date-via over-the-air synchronization, whether you have an advanced cell phone or a Pocket PC with integrated GSM and GPRS.

These are the main Servers as per I figured out but just running these .NET servers isn't of itself "doing .NET." These servers are just the building blocks further need to use them to build the applications to enhance your business using these blocks.

-Shivani~~~