This timeline shows estimated release dates for products in the System Center line. Operations Manager (OM) 2007 became the first 2007 release for the System Center family. Released in late March and replacing Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005, OM 2007 supports monitoring of services that span multiple servers and uses a completely new model-based management pack architecture. An interim service pack or hot fix is planned for late summer or fall to enable OM 2007 to run on and monitor the next version of Windows Server, which is code-named Longhorn and expected in late 2007. The next version of OM, which could be a minor R2 release (shown on the chart) or a major release, is planned for the second half of 2008 and will include EMC Smarts technology for native management of Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) network devices.

A minor 3.0 update to Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Microsoft’s free product for centralized patch management, shipped in May 2007. A new management and monitoring product for smaller businesses, called Essentials 2007, shipped at the same time and contains technology from both WSUS 3.0 and OM 2007.

This timeline shows estimated release dates for products in the System Center line. Operations Manager (OM) 2007 became the first 2007 release for the System Center family. Released in Apr. 2007 and replacing Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005, OM 2007 supports monitoring of services that span multiple servers and uses a completely new model-based management pack architecture. An interim service pack or hotfix is planned for late summer or fall to enable OM 2007 to run on and monitor Windows Server 2008 (code-named Longhorn) and expected in late 2007. The next version of OM, which could be a minor R2 release (shown on the chart) or a major release, is planned for the second half of 2008 and will include EMC Smarts technology for native management of Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) network devices.

A minor 3.0 update to Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Microsoft’s free product for centralized patch management, shipped in May 2007. A new management and monitoring product for smaller businesses, called Essentials 2007, shipped at the same time and contains technology from both WSUS 3.0 and OM 2007.

The roadmap for Microsoft’s System Center family of systems management products shows several updates in 2008, with 2009 likely being a pivotal year as betas are released ahead of the next major wave of releases in 2010. These will probably include more integration with security products, such as the Forefront line for servers and clients, and additional emphasis on Service Modeling Language (SML) and PowerShell. (Naming and release dates for June 2008 and later in this chart are Directions on Microsoft estimates based on previous release cycles and code names.)

Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 was released in May 2008 for management of Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V (Windows Server virtualization) virtual machines (VMs), among other features. Configuration Manager 2007 R2, planned for the second half of 2008, will support additional features such as Application Virtualization, SQL Reporting Services, and multicast image deployment. The next version has not been announced but is likely in 2010 (shown here as Configuration Manager v5).