We are happy to announce that the Cross Platform Extensions Beta 1 refresh is now available on the Microsoft connect site - http://connect.microsoft.com.  We appreciate the feedback on the product received to date and hope you will continue this.  Please let us know if you have any questions.

 This Beta refresh adds three new features to the product that customers have been asking for:

·         Support for OpsMgr Server running on 64-bit systems

·         Gateway role support

·         AIX 5.3 support

I originally came from the partner team, where I recall telling folks that we would do a cross platform solution "when pigs flew" and here I am today.  How far we have come!

 To celebrate the release of CPE at MMS and my statement above, we decided to have some flying pigs produced for MMS.  Needless to say, they were the hit of the show.

 Below are a couple of links to articles that specifically mention the pigs .  :-)

Of Flying Pigs

Here is a link to another first experience blog post.  What is interesting about this post, is that he did not have one of the supported platforms available, so he "improvised"  :-)

Check it out

On of the System Center MVPs (Anders Bengtsson) posted an article on his blog of his first expressions of CPE.

Check it out

For those of you at MMS in Las Vegas, hope you are all having fun!

We wanted to remind you that we have a session today that is going to cover the Cross Platform Extensions beta.  In the session, we will cover the architecture, features, release plans and lots of demos.  Oh, and you might just see a flying pig or two  :-)

Its session number SO20 and is going to take place in Veronese 2401B at 10:15 AM.

If you cannot make the session, we are working on posting the Powerpoint presentation on this blog following the session.

See you there!

Here's a good starting point on the features and functionality provided in the Cross Platform Extensions beta - http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/7/6/7762e198-cad4-4fac-9946-e8978e90823c/OpsMgr2007-CrossPlat-WP_CD_April2008.pdf.

 Also the System Center team posted some additional information - http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/7/6/7762e198-cad4-4fac-9946-e8978e90823c/OpsMgr2007-CrossPlat-WP_CD_April2008.pdf

Here's a good video showing the product in action - http://edge.technet.com/Media/Operations-Manager-with-Barry-Shilmover/

 More to come later...

 The Cross Platf and Interop Team

Hello and welcome to the System Center Cross Platform and Interop blog site.  Today Microsoft announced a few new beta products – two of which came from our team.  The System Center Operations Manager 2007 Cross Platform Extensions, which enable customers to manage Unix/Linux systems from Operations Manager 2007, was delivered as a beta today. If you were attending Bob Muglia’s Keynote this morning then you walked away with a CD containing the beta bits. 

The second beta announcement from our team was the availability of the System Center Operations Manager 2007 Connectors for HP OpenView (Unix/Windows) and IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console (TEC).  CD’s will be available later this week at MMS.

Both betas are available on http://connect.microsoft.com – sign in or sign up, then click 'connection directory' and look for "System Center TAP/Beta".  If you’re attending MMS, then stop by and see us at the Operations Manager 2007 Pod.  You can also attend the two breakout sessions:

- SO20 - System Center Operations Manager 2007 Cross Platform Extensions 

- SO09 - Connectors for System Center: The Microsoft Interop Strategy

Also, there’s a hands on lab for the Cross Platform Extensions at MMS – details will follow later.  Tonight there will be a birds of a feather session - BO03 Integrating with Microsoft Systems in a Mixed Environment (Windows, Linux, OSX etc).

If you happen to be at ‘Interop Las Vegas’ down the street at Mandalay Bay, then stop by and see us at the Microsoft booth.

We look forward to keeping this site updated with information, tips, and tricks about these new products from our group.  Please check us out often.

The Cross Plat and Interop team