Microsoft not only has cut the ".Net" from the name of its enterprise server family of products, but it also has lumped them in with Windows Server to create a new brand.

The group of products formerly and collectively known as the Microsoft .Net Enterprise Servers are now members of a newly rechristened "Windows Server System" family.

Members of the Windows Server System family include Windows Server 2003; all of the forthcoming "services," that will be layered on top of Windows Server (such as its Real Time Communications Server, Rights Management Services, and the like); SQL Server, Exchange Server; SharePoint Portal Server; BizTalk Server, Commerce Server, Content Management Server, Host Integration Server; Project Server; Internet Security and Acceleration Server; Systems Management Server Operations Manager; and Applications Center.

Microsoft made a similar move recently with its Office family, rebranding Office 2003, plus a number of supporting server products, as the "Office System 2003" family.

Go Here For More on Microsoft's Office System 2003 Name Change

Some Microsoft products, such as SharePoint Portal Server, Project Server and Microsoft's forthcoming Real Time Communications Server, are members of both the Windows Server System and Office System brands.

"We will see tight correlation between the Office System products and Windows Server System. The two are designed to work very well together," says Valerie Olague, director of Windows Server System marketing.

"With .Net Enterprise Servers, we never really had a brand identity," explains Barry Goffe, group manager for server platform marketing. "We were never really clear on what was in and what was out of the .Net Enterprise family."

Going forward, Microsoft's goal is to deliver on a few key brands: "Visual," "Office," and "Windows," primarily, Goffe says. Microsoft's plan is to make "Windows the brand for us to communicate to IT professionals," he adds.

Microsoft opted to group its products this way, rather than by type of user (i.e., small business customer, datacenter operator, etc.) because it is attempting to deliver a certain message across a wide swathe of deliverables, Goffe says.

"We are trying to communicate our focus on lowering cost and complexity and helping IT professionals (make their solutions) more strategic to the business," he says.

For More, See our Commentary on Microsoft's Disappear .Net Campaign

Goffe notes that Microsoft is notbacking away from the .Net Framework technologies. He says all of the products in the Windows Server System family will carry the ".Net-Enabled" and ".Net-Connected" monikers. Windows Server 2003 will include the .Net Framework 1.1 code in the operating system, he says. And a growing number of Microsoft's servers will embed the .Net Framework code in future releases, he adds.