Gates Takes Jab At Java Network Management

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April 28, 1998 (12:00 AM EDT)

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates took a jab at the Java network object management standard being pushed by Sun as he teamed with Computer Associates (CA) to propel Microsoft's Web Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) effort forward.

"I have never heard of that other acronym," said Gates, referring to the JMAPI applications programming technology being pushed by Sun to manage network devices such as printers, clients, and Java terminals. "I guess you can take a J and put it in front of everything."

Gates teamed up with CA Chief Executive Charles Wang Tuesday in a press conference at CA World in New Orleans to announce CA's Real World Interface will be shipped as part of the yet-to-be-released Windows NT 5.0. The Real World Interface utilizes the native management services and instrumentation of Windows and other WBEM-enabled systems to allow resellers to manage networks over the Internet. The Real World Interface is a browser-based application that provides network-management alerts and data via the Internet.

Gates said resellers and software developers do not have to rewrite their applications to connect to WBEM. He said WBEM supports Java, Microsoft's C, and other languages. "It is a real standard with many companies participating with it," he said. Officials said more than 60 vendors have now adopted the WBEM proposed standard.

Gates did not address the issue of when NT 5.0 will ship. But joked it would be well before the year 2000. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft is hoping to ship NT 5.0 this year. But a number of industry executives expect the company to ship the product in the first quarter next year.

Gates is slated to demonstrate the Windows NT 5.0 Real World Interface in a keynote address Tuesday. He said, "you will see visualization of all [management] data" with an aim toward not just showing all data, but "views that help manage networks."

Gates said the Real World Interface does not replace the Microsoft network management console in NT 5.0.

Gates said Microsoft is supporting a number of network management agents with Windows NT 5.0, including one from CA rival, IBM's Tivoli Systems. However, he said the Real World Interface is the only network management product shipped as an "integral part" of Windows NT 5.0.

"CA has an expertise in doing heterogenous systems," said Gates. "That is not an area Microsoft has chosen to invest [in]." He said the overlap between Islandia, N.Y.-based CA (company profile) and Microsoft (company profile) is very small, limited mainly to a single software distribution product from CA.

Wang said NT is being adopted very quickly, and increasingly in the enterprise space CA dominates. CA said it has shipped 3.5 million copies of its Unicenter TNG Framework for Windows NT distributed by 36 CA partners.

Wang said the deal to bundle the Real World Interface in NT 5.0 means CA customers do not have to worry about buying or installing additional software to get the benefit of CA Unicenter TNG network management technology. "The installation is easy -- a standard click in the NT interface," said Wang.

Gates said the CA-Microsoft partnership is aimed at addressing a key question: how easy it is going to be to "create the kind of reliability" required for PCs to manage complex networks. Gates said PC network management must provide the same type of reliability as "electricity."

Gates said CA has helped with the design of Windows NT 5.0 in a bid to provide better network management. He said NT 5.0 will include rich directory, storage, and clustering for support of complex networks.