Software Architecture Aimed at Delivering New Levels of Simplicity And Automation
The concept is a significant milestone in Microsoft's Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI) and represents the companies' long-term collaboration to enable customers to harness the power of industry-standard hardware, maximize the value of their information technology systems, and achieve new levels of simplicity and automation.

Shane Robison, EVP at HP, commented: "This is an exciting day for us -- and for the industry overall -- as the Dynamic Data Center is a key step forward for the Dynamic Systems Initiative. We are very pleased with the joint efforts that have taken place with Microsoft, and we look forward to continuing this collaboration well into the future."

The Dynamic Data Center concept is the result of more than a year of collaborative efforts between HP and Microsoft in support of the DSI and the underlying System Definition Model (SDM). The SDM, seen as a fundamental building block of the DSI architecture, is a live, Extensible Markup Language (XML) blueprint that provides a common software contract between development, deployment and operations.

Broadened support for DSI
Support for Microsoft's Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI), an effort aimed at automating how customers build, deploy and operate highly scalable applications, has broadened. Hardware vendors Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, IBM, NEC and Newisys are all joining early DSI supporters Dell and HP.

"Solutions that address the complexity our customers face in their IT environments can only be delivered through the combined efforts of a strong partner ecosystem," said Bill Veghte, corporate vice president of the Windows Server Group at Microsoft. "We look forward to continued collaboration with this growing group of industry-leading vendors around innovative DSI technologies that bring simplicity and automation to our customers' IT infrastructure."

Microsoft and hardware vendor partners have already begun joint DSI-related development around the System Definition Model (SDM). These efforts involve ADS, which enables customers to rapidly and automatically deploy and redeploy from one to hundreds of highly customized Microsoft Windows Server System (TM) images across their environments in a matter of minutes. ADS uses portions of the SDM for server provisioning, and it is through testing and integration of ADS with their server hardware and associated server deployment solutions that hardware providers are able to deliver an improved server-deployment experience to customers.

Fujitsu Limited will work with Microsoft to integrate Automated Deployment Services with its PRIMERGY servers and SystemcastWizard product for the Japanese market. "Combined, these products will enable our joint customers to dramatically simplify and automate the provisioning and administration of Windows Server (TM) in their IT environments," said Chiaki Ito, corporate vice president of Fujitsu Limited. "Fujitsu is committed to building long-term relationships with customers by offering infrastructure solutions that increase operational efficiency and add value to their businesses."

NEC will focus on integrating ADS with the ESMPRO server management suite to help realize the VALUMO, NEC's own autonomic computing concept, across the family of NEC Express servers. "Delivering customer solutions that result in lower operational costs and increased business agility is critical to our business," said Yasuo Iwaoka, executive general manager of the Computer Software Operations Unit at NEC. "We recognize the important role the SDM can play in unifying our hardware, software and management solutions and look forward to our collaboration efforts with Microsoft delivering near-term customer value."

"As a leading Intel-based hardware vendor, IBM is committed to providing customers with open and flexible solutions that result in maximum system availability, increased productivity and lower costs," said Deepak Advani, vice president of high-performance xSeries systems at IBM. "We feel customers will benefit as a result of the work IBM xSeries is doing with Microsoft around ADS and the System Definition Model."

Microsoft Delivers Prescriptive Guidance for Building Dynamic Data Centers In addition to announcing growing industry support, Microsoft today also issued a technical white paper titled "Building a Dynamic Data Center" to assist server, storage array and networking switch vendors in developing these innovative new solutions. The white paper provides vendors with required and recommended guidelines around hardware design features and software components for building a DDC.