Microsoft shipped the first deliverable in its new Dynamic Systems Initiative with the beta release of Automated Deployment Services for Windows Server 2003, but the company's vision for reducing complexity in the data center won't be realized for years to come.
Microsoft announced at the second annual Microsoft Management Summit the beta release of ADS, which promises to reduce the amount of time it takes to deploy hundreds of Windows Server system images to minutes from days or weeks. ADS is capable of remotely deploying operating system software to "bare metal" machines, according to Brian Valentine, senior vice president of the Windows Server Division in Redmond, Wash.
Microsoft plans to fill in its small-business applications portfolio at its Convergence 2003 here this week with a preview of the nascent Microsoft Business Network and the official debut of the Business Portal. Microsoft Business Network, which the company discussed last fall at Stampede, will let business partners connect with each other over the Web and facilitate data flow between applications without re-entering data, the company said.
Microsoft Business Network, like Microsoft CRM, is part of the Microsoft Business Solutions group's all-out push into small- and midsize-business applications. In this effort, Microsoft is trying to entrench its full software stack from the operating system, database and tools, to Office and IE, in businesses of all sizes.
Microsoft is gearing up to launch Windows Server 2003 next month. The April 24 launch will be the result of a three-year effort since the February 2000 launch of Windows 2000. The development cycle was marked by frequent changes of direction, each highlighted by constant renaming of the operating system, and cascading delays. In other words, it's finally time to pay attention. The details of the operating system are now set, and it's possible to evaluate what they mean for your organization.
At a very high level, Microsoft has done five things with Windows Server 2003: elevated security to the top priority, matured the Active Directory, brought Windows to scalability and availability parity with Unix/RISC systems, introduced a low-end edition that is more price competitive with Linux, and pulled the .NET Web services framework into the operating system.
The head of Microsoft Corp.'s Shared Source Initiative Tuesday said he foresees a world of coexistence where no one software development and distribution model wins. "I see a world of coexistence," said Jason Matusow, program manager for Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative (SSI), which is the company's response to the open-source movement where Microsoft allows key customers to access source code for some of its operating systems and other technologies. "There is not going to be a world where one model wins over the other," he said.
Peace activists girding for a possible U.S.-led war against Iraq are increasingly turning to the Web to voice their opposition and organize meetings and demonstrations against military action.
Care2 Inc., an online network of activists, has launched a Peace Action Center at http://www.care2.com/takeaction/peace, for example, that allows activists to locate congressional representatives and send letters and faxes. The group is hoping that it will be able to flood the U.S. Congress with antiwar messages with actions taken through the site. The site has only been up for a couple of weeks and so far more than 120,000 letters have been sent, a Care2 spokeswoman said.
Care2 isn't the only antiwar site shifting into high gear. United for Peace and Justice is a national campaign bringing together a range of organizations opposed to the war. Its site, at http://www.unitedforpeace.org, gives information on nationwide and local events, offers anti-war alerts and the opportunity to donate to the cause.
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," he said. SMS 2003 is a tool for managing configurations of Windows desktop and server machines. In beta now and scheduled for a September release, the software updates Microsoft's SMS 2.0 product. Handling of mobile devices was one key area targeted in the overhaul, with support for devices running Windows CE added to SMS 2003, according to Microsoft officials.
Microsoft said Tuesday that application service provider Surebridge is rolling out the software titan's new customer relationship management software. The companies said Surebridge will target medium-size businesses, or those with revenue ranging from $10 million to $1 billion, with services related to Microsoft Business Solutions CRM (customer relationship management) software. The companies said Surebridge's CRM Online will allow customers to access Microsoft's CRM software anywhere.
As part of the agreement, Surebridge becomes the first company to offer the software in a hosted environment, meaning Surebridge will help customers install the CRM applications and then handle their ongoing management.
Microsoft's MSN Internet arm is seeking users of high-speed services rather than competing with America Online for the slower but larger dial-up access business. After launching a $300 million marketing campaign last year to promote its Internet service and take market share from AOL, a unit of AOL Time Warner, MSN is shifting its focus to the fast-growing high-speed, or broadband, market. Microsoft's move could mean fierce competition in a slowing but higher-margin business for the No. 2 spot after AOL.
Microsoft will lay out on Tuesday its systems-management roadmap for 1,500 IT executives attending the company's second annual Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas. Microsoft is juggling a number of existing products and blueprints, integrating some, and phasing out others, in creating its next-gen lineup.
At the conference this week, Microsoft will talk up its Systems Management Server 2003 product, code-named Topaz, which is due to ship in September. It also will unveil a complementary new product, its Microsoft Operations Management (MOM) 2004 release, and demo an early version of the forthcoming product.
Microsoft earlier this month debuted the long-awaited beta of its real-time communications server along with a strategy designed to make it an emerging standard for embedding instant messaging and presence detection in other applications.
The software, code-named Greenwich, is being positioned as a counterweight to the Sametime IM and presence server from IBM's Lotus Software division, the acknowledged leader in enterprise IM. But while Lotus is enabling developers to put Sametime into other applications as Web services, Microsoft said developers will connect Greenwich to other applications via APIs.