TCO remains one of the hottest selling points in today's marketplace, and many vendors are striving to lower it by making PCs more manageable. This calls for building more intelligence into the computer, into components used in conjunction with the computer, or into those that run on top of the computer. To that end, Microsoft Corp. announced its initiative for Zero Administration Windows and Intel announced its own set of initiatives. However, the real success is being achieved by the DMTF (Desktop Management Task Force), an industry consortium (including Microsoft, Intel and others) that works to create a standard for managed computers. One reason behind the DMTF's success is its broad industry support; another is that the DMTF's initiatives are platform-independent, unlike undertakings pioneered solely by Microsoft or Intel.

The most crucial contribution of the task force is the DMI (Desktop Management Interface), now in its second generation. DMI 2.0 is rapidly gaining acceptance, and many computers and devices now ship with DMI support.

A Brief Look Back in Time

Founded in 1992, the DMTF was chartered with the development, support and maintenance of management standards for PC systems and products. This consortium today brings together more than 200 technology and support industry providers to create tools for achieving a managed desktop. It fosters a planned, managed approach to deploying and using computers versus the current crisis-driven paradigm that represents the de facto today.

Currently, the DMTF is spearheaded by Compaq Computer Corp., Dell Computer Corp., Digital Equipment Corp. (recently acquired by Compaq), Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., NEC, Novell, SCO, SunSoft (a Sun Microsystems company) and Symantec Corp.

In 1994, the DMTF published DMI 1.0, the first DMI of its kind to lay ground rules for hardware and software vendors to create more manageable computers.

In early 1996, DMI 2.0 emerged with robust changes offering better support for cross-platform solutions and networked environments. Today, the DMTF is working hard on the next step, namely the object-oriented technology-based CIM (Common Information Model). In addition to its work on DMI and CIM, the DMTF announced recently that it will become the caretaker of the WBEM (Web-Based Enterprise Management) initiative, boosting its credibility as the pioneer in remote and desktop management. To visit the DMTF online, go to www.dmtf.org.

Ahmad Abualsamid is a senior partner with 1Internet Corp. of Chicago. Send comments on this article to him at ahmad@execpc.com.