Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer proclaimed here last week that the software vendor's 2-year-old Dynamic Systems Initiative has advanced from the vision stage to being "very, very real." But a dozen IT managers attending the Microsoft Management Summit were having a tough time getting their arms around the DSI strategy, which aims to help companies design and operate more manageable systems by making use of information about applications that is captured in models. The IT managers said they either don't know what DSI is, are confused about the initiative or harbor skepticism about the model-based management approach that's at its core.

"It's a good concept if it works—but so was SMS, [and] it took them a few years to fix it," said Jim Brown, a senior technical specialist at Minneapolis-based General Mills Inc. Brown was referring to Systems Management Server, one of Microsoft's two major management products. Kirill Tatarinov, vice president of Microsoft's Windows and enterprise management division, said the first fruits of DSI can be seen in the "health models" that are bundled into management packs for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, which shipped late last year. The models let MOM users compare the performance and availability of applications with their desired baseline levels.