Microsoft discussed plans for a suite that integrates
several of its management software products at its second annual
Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas yesterday.
The first release of Microsoft System Center will bundle
together two forthcoming products, Microsoft Operations Manager
(MOM) 2004 and Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003. But with MOM
2004 not due out until mid-2004, System Center's arrival remains
distant.
The centrepiece of the summit was Microsoft's "Dynamic Systems
Initiative", aimed at reducing data centre complexity by increasing
the self-descriptive capabilities of applications.
The creation of System Center is part of that same vision for
increasing simplicity and flexibility, said David Hamilton,
director of Microsoft's Enterprise Management Division. "We're
heading toward delivering one unified enterprise management
solution. This is the first deliverable of that multiyear
roadmap."
SMS 2003 is a tool for managing configurations of Windows
desktop and server machines. The software is in beta now and is
scheduled for a September release.
Handling of mobile devices was one key area targeted in the
overhaul, with support for devices running Windows CE added to SMS
2003.
Another new feature is software metering. SMS 2003 can inventory
what applications are installed on managed machines and track their
usage.
The second piece of System Center, MOM 2004, updates Microsoft's
MOM 2000 performance management software. In addition to new
features, such as graphical system views and enhanced reporting
tools, the software will be tailored for much faster deployment,
cutting start-up time down from weeks to hours.
Once MOM 2004 and SMS 2003 are released, Microsoft will focus on
System Center, which will feature tight integration between the two
products.
"We'll be utilising the [products'] data warehousing
capabilities to provide consistent data about systems," Hamilton
said. "You might be deploying security patches on Windows servers
and monitoring your Exchange server, and you'll probably want to
correlate information on those. So we'll enable that."
Pricing for System Center, and for MOM 2004 and SMS 2003, has
not yet been determined.