Microsoft brings DSI plan into focus

Microsoft’s plan for the future of systems management, called DSI (Dynamic Systems Initiative), came into focus last week when the software maker laid out a road map for new and updated management products.

Free IT resource Hear how top CIOs turn change into a competitive advantage. Sponsored by HP Free IT resource Attend the SOA Executive Forum: Breaking SOA Bottlenecks SOAExecForum.com/may2007 Sponsored by InfoWorld

At its Microsoft Management Summit the company presented itself as an enterprise-class systems management company that reaches beyond just Windows environments, rivaling Computer Associates’ Unicenter, IBM’s Tivoli, and others.

To underscore that heterogeneity, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shared the stage with a large Sun Microsystems server and demonstrated how, in the future, users can manage Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Sun Solaris servers with MOM (Microsoft Operations Manager).

Additionally, Ballmer said Virtual Server 2005 will get official support for third-party OSes, including Linux, when Service Pack 1 ships later this year. He also announced that virtualization will become part of the Windows Server OS with the Longhorn release in 2007, or in an update to Longhorn Server.

Microsoft at the event fleshed out DSI and presented a product road map to support it, including new releases of MOM and SMS (System Management Server), due for release in 2006 or 2007.

DSI is built around hardware, software, and applications that signal their management needs using Microsoft’s SDM (System Definition Model).

Also on tap is the release of System Center Reporting Manager 2005, a tool that collects data from SMS and MOM for reporting purposes.