... And Microsoft Has a Long Way to Go
I recently visited a reader site that has a very large worldwide Windows 2000/Windows NT network. This company is in the process of migrating from NT 4.0 to Win2K and from Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 to Exchange 2000 Server. To manage this global network with its hundreds of servers (close to 100 Exchange servers alone), the company depends on a variety of midrange systems management tools. The IT department plans to upgrade from this mix of tools to a comprehensive enterprise management solution, and the Microsoft products aren't on the list of possibilities.
I asked these folks about that omission because I knew they had considered NetIQ in the past. The response was that a complete, integrated, and—most important—battle-tested solution was what they needed. The department believed that the current incarnation of Microsoft's management solution wasn't up to the task, even though parts of the solution (e.g., SMS) were in wide deployment throughout the company. (Aside from networking infrastructure hardware, the company is almost a 100 percent Microsoft shop.) The last I heard from this company, a Tivoli product and Unicenter were in a dead heat for the enterprise management product of choice, with senior management pushing for Tivoli.
Until Microsoft achieves the integration that I know it's working toward between all its systems management products, the scenario I've just described is one I can imagine playing out on a regular basis. IT departments base their case to management for adopting enterprise management on cost reduction and improved service level agreement (SLA) support. Such cost control and improved support are usually effected through using one product—not by supporting multiple management consoles, as the current versions of the Microsoft management tools do.
But don't count Microsoft out. I would expect significant improvement in the company's management tools within the time frame during which the .NET My Services technologies begin to ship, over the next 18 months. If service-based computing is to succeed, an excellent set of tools for managing services and service providers is necessary. You can bet that Microsoft will be there to fill that need as soon as it appears.
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