Thursday, May 1, 2008

Microsoft Uses Open Source To Extend Systems Management To Linux

Microsoft is extending its management software to Linux and Unix by integrating some of the open source OpenPegasus project's code into System Center Operations Manager.

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s management software has never quite measured up to that of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), IBM (NYSE: IBM), BMC (NYSE: BMC), or CA (NYSE: CA), the "big four" of IT systems management. But the company hopes to begin changing minds about that at the annual Microsoft Management Summit this week, and much of the impetus comes from a rather unlikely place: the integration of open source code into a System Center management product.

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced that it's extending its management software to Linux and Unix environments by integrating some of the open source OpenPegasus project's code into System Center Operations Manager, and will contribute back. The addition of cross-operating system management, the number one customer request for System Center, represents further recognition by Microsoft that it's not a Windows-only world. It also is a significant move toward putting Microsoft on equal footing as a legitimate enterprise management vendor.

"I don't care what enterprise you walk into, they're not going to be single platform. You just don't see that," said Clear Channel solution architect Curt Smith, a System Center customer, in an interview. Clear Channel uses Linux to operate its radio Web platform, has a bunch of creative employees on Apple OS X, and uses VMware for virtualization. "I want the ability to manage it all from one spot. You can't have a bunch of tools all over the place, or else you'll just end up cracking up."

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