Seatlle, Sept 11: Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, launched on Wednesday its newest offering in storage server software used to back up and store data on networked computers. A new addition to Microsoft's family of server software, Windows Storage Server 2003 is Microsoft's attempt to tap into the growing market for Network Attached Storage, which allows companies to save on costs by adding storage capacity to existing networks.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, which is investing heavily in new areas to fuel growth, said that its new storage server will be sold only through hardware manufacturers such as Dell Inc., EMC Corp. and NEC Corp.
"Every company needs to store data so these products are meeting strong demand," said Charles Stevens, a vice president in Microsoft's Enterprise Storage Division. The division was created in early 2002 to address the new market.
Stevens said the new data storage demands being placed on companies, which are scrambling to comply with the auditing and record-keeping requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley act passed by Congress last year. Bureau Report