Microsoft is expected to detail features of its
forthcoming Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2004 product and
preview the beta version of Software Update Services (SUS) 2.0 at a
conference in Las Vegas next week.
At its third annual Microsoft Management Summit, the company
will also announce a name change for SUS. The 2.0 version of the
patch management software will be called Windows Update
Services.
More than 2,000 people have registered for the conference - a
sell-out crowd, according to David Hamilton, director of
Microsoft's Enterprise Management division. Attendees will get
details on Microsoft's management product road map and an update on
the Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI), its plan for reducing IT
complexity by improving software manageability.
"We will be making significant announcements in both strategy
and product space," Hamilton said, declining to give any further
details ahead of the event. DSI was announced just before last
year's Management Summit.
Due out midyear, MOM 2004 will be an update to the MOM 2000
performance management software. In addition to new features such
as a graphical systems views and enhanced reporting tools, MOM 2004
has been designed to be easier to deploy than its predecessor,
Microsoft said.
With MOM 2004, Microsoft will also refresh all its "management
packs" for the software and introduce new packs designed to monitor
web services. Management packs are modules that allow MOM users to
monitor specific applications or Windows services, such as Exchange
or Active Directory.
Microsoft will also give an update on its plans for System
Center, which bundles together MOM 2004 with Systems Management
Server (SMS) 2003 and is due out in the second half of the year.
System Center will be a key element of the DSI plan and combine the
change and configuration management capabilities provided by SMS
with the management and monitoring functionality of MOM.
Microsoft needs to provide more clarity on the overall
management road map, as well as about where System Center fits in
and what benefits it is going to bring, said Peter Pawlak, lead
analyst at Directions on Microsoft.
"What is the benefit of bundling MOM and SMS? They haven't
really spelled that out," he added.
An update to SUS is much needed, Pawlak said. "SUS 1.0 was a fairly
weak first attempt, and before it will be accepted by savvy systems
administrators it needs to have quite a few more capabilities," he
said. The first version of SUS was really no more than a way to
download patches to a local network and host them there for clients
to download; it lacked any intelligence, Pawlak said.
Microsoft has offered SUS at no charge, while SMS 2003 costs
$1,219 for the first 10 client access licences.
Joris Everswrites for IDG News
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