Microsoft’s launch of Systems Center Essentials (SCE) 2007 earlier this month may deliver an attractive systems management option for companies looking for low implementation costs. But it also provides Microsoft with a way to check up on customers’ software licensing compliance.

Despite the software giant’s protestations to the contrary, SCE 2007 is effectively a scaled down version of its Systems Center Operations Manager (SCOM) product, formerly Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM), though SCE is aimed at small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

“SCE is not a cut-down version of either SCOM or Configuration Manager 2007 [formerly Systems Management Server (SMS)],” argued Neil Sanderson, Microsoft UK product manager for management and virtualisation. “Companies would use those products in more complex infrastructures, whereas SCE sets limits of 500 desktops and 30 servers. There is no hard limit on the number of simple network management protocol (SNMP) devices [that can be managed] but, for performance issues, it is probably around 75.”

Microsoft partner solution sales specialist Mike Peers said SCE contains about 60 percent of the functionality of SCOM, though some of the “detuned” features, such as alerts, can be turned back on.

Milind Govekar, vice-president of research at analyst firm Gartner, said that pushing its systems management platform into the mid-market is a tactic primarily designed to nudge more companies into deploying Microsoft’s operating systems and applications because they become easier to manage.

However, SCE 2007 could also be a useful tool for Microsoft to assess whether customers are compliant with its operating system and application licensing schemes.

SCE 2007 performs a blanket discovery to find attached servers and desktops before reporting back on the operating systems, applications and processes currently running, as well as delivering basic hardware information.

“Microsoft is in the systems management space mainly for one reason, and that is to make Windows and all its other applications more sticky,” said Govekar. “It is also a way of making sure it is not losing any licence revenue. Effectively, [SCE 2007 is] a good intelligence gathering tool that helps Microsoft identify what is out there from an inventory point of view so it can sell customers some more stuff on the back of that.”

Although Microsoft has made a big effort to make sure that SCE 2007 is a single solution that is as easy to use as possible, early customers have already asked for extra features. These include the ability to do WMI queries, edit the signed CAD file and tailor it specifically for their networks, handle multiple domains better, and deliver Vista hardware compatibility. Microsoft’s Peers said new features are under consideration for future SCE releases.