Infonet Services Corp, the San Jose-based international data network operator owned by MCI Communications Corp and a string of national European and Far Eastern carriers, has teamed up with Microsoft Corp for joint development of a series of enterprise-wide management systems designed to handle everything from the desktop machine to the wide area network switches from a single workstation. The project combines Microsoft’s Windows NT-based Hermes software with a package Infonet is developing which will enable its customers to monitor and control some aspects of the Infonet wide area network. Hermes is Microsoft’s internal name for a program that will provide software and hardware inventory and software distribution capabilities. It will come in two parts: a small agent sitting on client personal computers and Macintoshes will enable the central NT-based software to monitor hardware and software configurations. But, more importantly, the software is designed to enable network managers distribute and install software on their far-flung machines. It is due to appear sometime in the second half of this year. Infonet is developing its management product on Digital Equipment Corp or Sun Microsystems Inc workstations, Hermes on the other hand has always been characterised as an NT-based product.
Domination of the desktop
Whether Microsoft will be building a Hermes module for the DEC and Sun machines or whether the integration will be looser is at present unclear. But why did Infonet choose Hermes and NT, rather than Novell Inc which has its own Annatek-based software distribution system and whose NetWare has 70%-odd of the local network market? Microsoft’s domination of the desktop is obviously attractive; the chances are that Hermes-type agents will find their way into future versions of MS-DOS and Windows, giving the network manager access to most of the connected machines. Hermes is also being designed to work with Macintoshes. The second reason is that on Infonet, many of the machines are not even networked in the conventional sense, many simply dial in over asynchronous links on an ad hoc-basis. Nonetheless the Infonet-Hermes combination should enable even these machines to be managed to some degree. The pact gives Infonet a very valuable opportunity to add even more value to its existing value-added network operation, and the ability to offer integrated management to the desktop, and software distribution should help differentiate it from its rivals. Microsoft, of course gets a few guaranteed NT installations and a marketing boost for LAN Manager. But beyond that, Ted Dagress, vice-president of data communications research at the Yankee Group, believes that the software company may see the network as a way of distributing software to its customers in the future. Dagress emphasises that neither company is actively promoting the idea at the moment, but it could provide Microsoft with a very powerful distribution channel in the future. Finally, it is worth noting just how much this approach differs from existing all singing-all dancing network management systems being devised by the likes of British Telecommunications Plc with Concert and Digital Equipment Corp with its DECmcc. These companies have taken a comparatively monolithic approach, concentrating on standards and interoperability. Infonet and Microsoft have set their sights lower, and look like bringing a management system to market which will nonetheless help solve some of the trickiest management problems around at the moment.