System Center Operations Manager 2007 Coming in April (But Don't Call It SCOM)
The next step in the evolution of Microsoft's Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI)
-- not to be confused with Dynamics products -- will be here next week. April
1 is the release date for the
System
Center Operations Manager 2007, part of DSI. The new management software
is the next version of what's now called Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM)
2005.
Microsoft officials are trumpeting SCOM -- um, we mean "Operations Manager,"
but more on that later -- as the first real breakthrough for DSI, its broad
systems-management program. Operations Manager is the first product to carry
the "System Center" brand, Microsoft says. It's a key piece of the
overall strategy Redmond envisions for helping IT people better manage their
environments and provide services to users. Operations Manager does that via
enhanced IT event and performance monitoring. It represents a big leap from
MOM because of its ability to monitor an entire system and not just individual
components.
The new release "moves from being an individual server-management tool
to being a solution that can manage end-to-end IT services," according
to Eric Berg, director of Microsoft System Center. "It gives you one holistic
view into that end-to-end service."
Operations Manager also introduces role-based user access, client (as well
as server) monitoring and audit collection services that allow companies to
collect security log data from servers -- a capability that's especially important
for companies wrangling with compliance issues, Berg said.
Just one thing, though. The secure, homey feel of the name MOM will be gone,
and, whatever you do, don't call the new product "SCOM." Microsoft's
not wild about that for reasons that are pretty obvious. The official Redmond
nomenclature, short version, is "Operations Manager."
Even just calling it "OM" is a little risky, as that name is already
the domain of famous French soccer club Olympique
de Marseille. We do not suggest that you try to sell anything with
the name "OM" in Paris. Actually, we're kind of hoping that "OpMan"
will catch on.
Also today, Microsoft announced a partnership with EMC aimed at boosting OpMan's
capabilities. (Here's
an article that flagrantly uses "SCOM.") Redmond also talked about
standardizing the Service Modeling Language as part of a broader effort to create
heterogeneous systems management.
What opportunities do you see for systems management? Tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on March 28, 2007