Moving management to the Web

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In the intranet standards battle, there are two teams. The first includes Microsoft, Intel, Cisco Systems, BMC Software, Compaq Computer, and the Desktop Management Task Force standards organization. On the other side is, all alone, is Sun Microsystems, which is promoting its cross-platform Java programming language as the answer to everyone's proprietary headaches.

In July, the team led by Microsoft-Intel announced a universal Web-based management initiative that will result in HyperMedia Management Protocol (HMMP), a new protocol that would run over the intranets but support existing communications protocols.

That furious pace of partnerships, handshakes, and general industry buzz had companies projecting that the first implementations of HMMP would appear in the first half of 1997. But the initial enthusiasm soon gave way to a lull. As Networld+Interop rolled around last month, it became clear that even the base management schema needed a lot of work, work that the Desktop Management Task Force--which was assigned the task of shaping the schema--could not accomplish with current resources.

By the time a post-Interop event hosted by Intel rolled around, task force officials said HMMP implementations wouldn't hit the streets until 1998. Bay's Reilly, whose company has come out in support of the effort, was one of several industry observers who publicly pointed out that the HMMP specification was advancing at a snail's pace.

Meanwhile, Sun's software subsidiary, SunSoft, had announced Solstice Workshop, a Java development environment for creating Web-based management applications and applets that can act as agents on a network. The latest version of Solstice Enterprise Manager will also use a new Java Management Application Programming Interface (JMAPI) specification to eventually offer centralized management that is supposed to account for both Sun products and a host of management tools on their network.

"As revolutionary as Java is for programming, Java management is for administration," said Brian Biles, Sun's director of product marketing for Solstice products. "Java eliminates the proprietary boundaries that used to exist. It's a real win for customers."