Microsoft Site Server

Microsoft Site Server, first released in 1996, was Microsoft's solution to the growing difficulty of managing complex websites which included multiple technologies, such as user management and authentication/authorization, content management, analysis, and indexing and search. Site Server 2.0, released in early 1997, incorporated electronic commerce technology from Microsoft Merchant Server, Microsoft's first effort at providing a solution to the growing business of Internet-based commerce (or e-commerce). During the course of its evolution (culminating with Site Server 3.0), Site Server expanded on Merchant Server's functionality by annexing content management tools; which would typically be involved, it was thought, in facilitating the management of Web-facing content. Consequently, Site Server became not only a solution for businesses wanting to sell products online, but companies who had corporate intranet servers hosting documents.

Although Site Server went through several iterations, the most widely-discussed and perhaps widely-adopted version was the last, Site Server 3.0, released in 1998.

The primary areas of Site Server 3.0 functionality included:

• Indexing and Search
• Content Management
• Product Management
• Order Processing
• Site Personalization
• Ad Server