Windows Vista radically improves networking in contrast to its predecessor Windows XP. Microsoft has applauded the overhauled networking infrastructure of its latest operating system Windows Vista, complete with a redesigned network protocol stack, but the increased performances were only measured by the Tolly Group. In a study commissioned by Microsoft, the Tolly Group has compared the performances delivered by Windows Vista in tandem with Windows Server 2008, formerly codenamed Longhorn, and Windows XP together with Windows Server 2003.

"We think the gains that we showed are considerable," stated Kyle Sim, director of engineering for Tolly for ComputerWorld. "Because just by changing the OS on the client or server or both, you can see performance enhancements of two to three times."

The conclusions of the comparison are evident even in the title of the study "Enhanced Network Performance with Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008." The two pairs of the frontend client operating system and the backend server platform were tested in a variety of LAN and WAN configurations. Vista plus Windows Server 2008 contributed to increasing by over three times file transfers, downloads and remote access, making up the aspects of the overall performance. The Tolly Group revealed that the overhauled protocol stack in Vista and Windows Server 2008 is directly responsible for the performance boost.

"The secret sauce behind these tests is the enhancements we have done in the networking layer. The enhancements almost need to be treated as an 'Intel Inside' type of approach, because most people won't realize that their performance has improved because of networking functionality. They will assume that Internet Explorer is wired better or applications are running better because of some other aspect outside of raw TCP/IP improvements," explained Ian Hameroff, Ian Hameroff, Senior Product Manager in the Microsoft Security and Access Group.