Windows Server 2008, formerly codenamed Longhorn, is no leas than 45 times faster than its predecessor, Windows Server 2003, in terms of network transfer speeds. Now whatever the perspective is on Microsoft's last 32-bit server operating system, the fact of the matter is that faster transfer speeds for of up to 45 times is quite an evolution compared to Windows Server 2003. Back in June 2007, Microsoft commissioned a study to the Tolly Group focused on the networking performances of its latest Windows client and server operating system, which ended up as the "Enhanced Network Performance with Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008" whitepaper. The study pointed to the fact that both Vista and Windows Server 2008 managed to offer "dramatic network performance benefits."

"Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista are introducing some of the biggest changes to our networking stack in recent memory. From the server side, I think this is one of the biggest overlooked features of Windows Server 2008. To that point, earlier this year we released the Tolly Group Whitepaper that showed the how the improvements to our TCP/IP stack and SMB 2.0 Protocol gave us a 3.5x time-to-completion improvement over Windows Server 2003. The paper really is a good read and it has some good technical details of what the exact improvements are that allow this to happen. (receive window auto-tuning, SMB File handles and buffer size," revealed Ward Ralston, senior technical product manager in the Microsoft Windows Server division.

Well, you will be surprised of the actual extent of "dramatic" benefits. Microsoft has a long tradition of dogfooding its own products. And Windows Server 2008 is no exception to this rule. Ralston explained that the MSN group has implemented Windows Server 2008 release Candidate 0, available for download via this link on Softpedia. The tests the MSN group performed revealed that Windows Server 2008 is 45 times faster than Windows Server 2003. Namely, a transfer that took almost six hours with Windows Server 2003, took just 7 minutes with Windows Server 2008. At this point in time, Windows Server 2008 is scheduled for RTM in early 2008, and for release at the end of February, next year.

"First set of tests is to transfer 10.793 GB ( a collection of 10 VirtualEarth Stitch files) from TK2 Datacenter to BLU Datacenter and from BLU Dataceneter to TK2 Datacenter. a. In windows 2003, from TK2 to BLU, it took 5 hours, 40 minutes and 13 seconds. Transfer rate observed was 567813 Bytes/sec. From BLU to TK2, it took 6 hours, 6 minutes and 26 seconds. Transfer rate observed was 527182 Bytes/sec. b. In LH RC0 build, from TK2 to BLU, it took 7 minutes and 45 seconds, Transfer rate observed was 25062249 Bytes/sec. From BLU to TK2, it was 8 minutes and 10 seconds, Transfer rate observed was 23712912 Bytes/sec. The improvement observed was ~45 times faster over windows 2003", Ralston added.