FInding a role model Microsoft, Vertel team to bring Windows NT up to TMN speed >BY CHRIS BUCHOLTZ, Intelligence & Software Editor

In a move aimed at leveraging Microsoft's massive presence at the desktop, the company will team with Vertel to add Telecommunications Management Network compliance to some of its network management software tools.

The two companies will integrate Vertel's TMN Power Cat platforms and technology to enable the management of key Microsoft products and third-party applications running on the Windows NT Server The move is targeted at carriers whose personnel may already be familiar with Microsoft's software.

"When I talk to carriers and I ask them how many desktops they have running Windows in one form or another, it can reach into the tens of thousands," said Bill Anderson, director of marketing in Microsoft's Public Networks Group. "But when I ask them how many of those desktops have access to management functions, the answer is a very small number. Not many of them are thinking of tying that into their [operations support system]. These moves are a systematic approach to this market.

The companies will integrate Power Cat with Microsoft Commercial Internet System, Windows NT Server, Internet Information Server, Microsoft BackOffice suite, DCOM and ActiveX to comply with TMN standards.

"While TMN is a model for managing networks, there are tools that are good and that are already out there that we don't want to ignore," said Bruce Brown, president and chief executive officer of Woodland Hills, Calif.-based Vertel. "This move will allow our customers to move toward TMN when and how they want to.

While Microsoft initially expected interest from smaller service providers, Anderson was surprised by the widespread interest in NT.

"We expected the competitive local exchange carriers to show an interest, but now we have relationships with [interexchange carriers, local exchange carriers] and wireless operators," Anderson said. "The interest has been across the board from all types of carriers." Although it is clearly hoping that the added TMN capability of its management tools will improve the future for Windows NT as an operating environment, Microsoft is also aware that it is entering a field where the system of choice is not its own.

As far as future developments for telecom efforts, Unix interoperability is a top priority for future development, said Anderson. "It would be foolish to say you don't need Unix, since there's a huge investment around Unix in this industry. It is not our intent to be combative toward that installed base.

The two companies also a pair of white papers at the Global TMN Summit in San Diego that outlined the TMN-WBEM and TMN-DCOM specifications, which define how the integrated Microsoft tools along with products from other vendors could help carriers improve service management process flows and leverage their investment in existing network management infrastructure. The summit was co-sponsored by Vertel, TCSI and Telephony, and drew together hundreds of network management experts to discuss business-related TMN issues.

The WBEM effort proposes a set of industry standards that allow network managers to use a Web browser to manage disparate systems, networks and applications using Web-based technology to provide a comprehensive management view of an enterprise. While the intent of the WBEM effort is to enable the development of tools that reduce the complexity and costs of enterprise management, Vertel and Microsoft believe that WBEM can successfully be deployed to manage public networks as well as an enterprise.

"WBEM provides a manager of managers to provide a consistent view and allows managers to get that view from any desktop," said Anderson.