As SunSoft Inc and Microsoft Corp merrily implement their various Web-based management technologies, Hewlett Packard Co seems content to sit on the fence. Though the Hyper Media Management Schema, part of Microsoft’s Web-Based Enterprise Management initiative, was jointly authored by HP and Microsoft and though HP sits on the Desktop Management Task Force committee trying to work its schema into specifications for an industry standard data model, it is not yet implementing it into its product line. Sun Microsystems Inc hopes to have its Java Management application programming interfaces into parts of its Solstice line early next year, and Microsoft has produced a reference implementation of the Hyper Media Management Schema. OpenView program manager Andy Vanagunas says, We’ve got to be a little bit cautious that we don’t take our huge installed base down the wrong road. Network management has a long and florid history of all-encompassing management kit that never lives up to expectations, Simple Network Management Protocol v.2 being the latest example, Vanagunas points out. It seems clear that, until Sun and Microsoft can prove they can play nicely together with their Web management toys, HP intends to watch from the sidelines. Sources at the Task Force say HP is not obstructing the standardization process, but they reckon it has less to gain than most from standardization.
