The Continued Evolution of Windows Management

Back in the late nineties I was hire by a company to lead a nation-wide implementation of Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2.0. I had learned about management technologies Microsoft included in Windows NT 4.0 and thought this would be an exciting opportunity that used these technologies to the fullest. By 2001, we had successfully implemented SMS and were using many of these components in the process.

While I currently consider my expertise to be virtualization and storage, Windows management technology remains near and dear to my heart.

Windows management technology is made up of an alphabet soup of components: HAL, DCOM, WMI, CIM, CIMOM, WEBM, etc, etc. These components have evolved over time, and it looks like they're getting a (much needed) update in Windows 8 and Server 2012.

The fact that hasn't changed in 12 years is that these components are critical to successfully managing Windows systems. And now, non-Windows systems and devices. I highly recommend any IT professional keeping up with these components and where not only Microsoft, but the rest of the industry is taking them.

A good place to start - this TechNet blog article:
Open Management Infrastructure