New versions of SQL Server, Visual Studio to highlight TechEd conference.
Microsoft this week will use its annual TechEd conference to give IT executives a clearer picture on how it plans to integrate its developer tools and Windows infrastructure in hopes of supplying the uptime and security that corporations demand from their networks.
The focus of the conference will be SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005, which were supposed to ship more than a year ago. Microsoft is expected to announce that the two pieces of software will ship on Nov. 8.
SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 are linked by many complementary features that will let IT build and support business-process applications.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who will deliver the opening keynote address to an anticipated 11,000 attendees, also will introduce updates to Microsoft’s Visual Studio Tools for Office. The tools let companies create document-centric applications using Word and Excel.
Both announcements highlight how Microsoft hopes to foster tighter bonds between those that maintain IT infrastructure and those that build applications that run on top of it.
“Microsoft is going to try and pull everything together with Visual Studio so it is the one tool that can be used, in theory, to easily develop for just about every Microsoft product you can imagine,” says Joe Wilcox, an analyst with Jupiter Research. “This is a good opportunity for Microsoft to rally the troops as it marches toward its 2005 server milestones and its 2006 desktop milestones.” Those desktop milestones are centered on Longhorn, which is expected to ship next year.
“Historically, we have talked about server and tool products to IT pros in somewhat of a siloed way,” says Martin Taylor, general manager of platform strategy for Microsoft. “We left it up to them to figure out some of the benefits of integration, and so now we are trying to talk about the integrated scenarios.” Those scenarios center on infrastructure, management, security and Web services.
Microsoft also will focus on other upcoming releases such as BizTalk Server 2006 and Commerce Server 2006, which along with SQL Server and Visual Studio are part of Microsoft’s Connected Systems infrastructure.
“One thing that you do see from Microsoft these days is that they know they have challenges on many fronts,” says Laura DiDio, an analyst with The Yankee Group. “They have challenges from Linux and other competitors in other areas. They have challenges from their own customer base because it is demanding more functionality, more reliability and higher security. I think you have to give them credit for stepping up to the plate, and they are starting to deliver.”
At the conference, Microsoft is expected to ship the long-awaited Windows Server Updates Services (WSUS), a free enterprise server for downloading patches, and launch Microsoft Update, a Microsoft Web site that hosts patches for download.
Microsoft also plans to demonstrate a combination of WSUS, the System Management Server Inventory tool for Microsoft Update and the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) 2.0, a scanning tool expected to ship in 30 days.
Microsoft will use the conference to clarify its product releases and road map since it is facing thousands of customers that will have to decide this year on re-signing billions of dollars’ worth of Volume Licensing and Software Assurance contracts set to expire this year.
In addition to Microsoft, many of the 268 third-party partners attending the show will make announcements. Advanced Systems Concepts is set to release ActiveBatch Wireless, a Java application that allows for job scheduling and management from a BlackBerry device. Configuresoft is scheduled to release Enterprise Configuration Manager 4.7, which includes Unix and Linux support along with compliance, rollback and uninstall features. Ecora is expected to introduce its multi-platform Change and Configuration Management Suite, a combination of its Enterprise Auditor, Patch Manager and Provisioning Manager software. Shavlik Technologies is set to introduce three products: HFNetChkPro for Solaris, which was scheduled to ship June 1; NetChk Spyware, which is in beta; and Shavlik Security Agents 5. PatchLink is scheduled to announce integration of its PatchLink Update software with Microsoft’s MBSA 2.0.
