Microsoft software to manage itself?

Microsoft plans to unveil its Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI) at a Las Vegas conference next week, when it debuts its new systems management tools.

The initiative seeks to create business software that automatically responds to, and compensates for, fluctuations in computing demand.

Such software would, for example, let a website automatically bring more servers online to respond to an unusually high number of visitors. Similar "autonomic" computing initiatives have also been launched by Microsoft's closest rivals, IBM, Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard.

DSI also will include hardware manufacturers in a coordinated effort Microsoft hopes will deliver management tools and systems that will trump competitors.

By including hardware and software development in the initiative, Microsoft hopes to create standards that wring the most productivity and efficiency out of Windows systems. That in turn could make Windows servers more appealing to larger businesses running Unix systems or mainframes.

Under DSI, "The systems and applications working together in concert would be able to allocate and reallocate resources based on mode, demand and business need," said Bob O'Brien, Microsoft's group product manager for Windows Server.

With the plan, Microsoft is following competitors onto well-trodden ground. "This is Microsoft's answer to IBM's autonomic computing, Sun's N1 and Hewlett-Packard's adaptive infrastructure," said Gartner analyst Tom Bittman.

The problems are serious for many businesses, said Mark Linesch, director of infrastructure solutions for HP's industry standard server group.

"You can see very specifically when you talk to very large customers... that they want to find a way to fundamentally get more utilisation out of those resources," Linesch said. "More importantly, companies want their technology resources to work more in concert with their business processes.

The four competitors are at various stages of development. IBM disclosed some of its autonomic software plans during this week's CeBIT 2003 trade show in Hannover Germany. HP this month plans to further lay out its adaptive infrastructure strategy.

Until now, Microsoft has treated the task of managing resources and applications on a network or data centre as more of an operating system function, or deferred them to third-party application providers. But as the company eyes the enterprise, greater emphasis is being placed on providing more management tools and including third-party software applications and hardware.

Joe Wilcox writes for News.com