Over the past couple of years, Microsoft's Enterprise Storage Division has signed up an increasing list of OEM partners for its network-attached storage architecture, and the result has been strong growth in sales of Windows-powered NAS. And more changes are due next month with the launch of the group's next-generation design, which is dubbed Storage Server 2003. However, other than the MS seal of approval and the confidence that imprimatur can bring to some parts of the market, what's the appeal to storage vendors? Could it be the very same things we customers look for in a technology supplier?

Microsoft next month will offer a wider variety of NAS to OEM partners starting with the launch of its next-generation design, dubbed Windows Storage Server 2003. The current list of NAS partners includes Coastline Micro Inc.,Dell Inc., EMC Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., and Iomega Corp. Starting with WSS 2003, the group will offer seven different configuration to partners, according to Claude Lorenson, product manager with the Enterprise Storage Division. This is more than double the number offered under the current (and for all purposes now previous) Microsoft-powered NAS program. During our conversation, held across the street from last week's LinuxWorld show, he called them stock-keeping units (SKUs).