So System Center Service Manager (otherwise known as Service Desk) will now ship in two years (maybe). It is better for Microsoft to delay a product than to release it if it is unreliable. But a two-year delay is pretty hefty. Wonder why Microsoft finds it necessary to build its own CMDB into Service Manager than to simply partner with one of the many third-party options out there, since this portion of the software is the stated reason for the hold-up, as this story in Network World reports.

Service Manager, which was released in beta last year, includes a workflow engine based on the Windows Workflow Foundation and incorporates IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), a set of best practices for IT services management, and the Microsoft Operations Framework. But it is Service Manager’s configuration management database (CMDB), which will host data from System Center Configuration Manager and from Operations Manager, where Microsoft is making changes.

For those interested in ITIL, might want to check out this recent live chat Network World did with an ITIL expert: ITIL demystified

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