Quest Software, Inc. (Nasdaq:QSFT) has expanded its set of solutions to help organizations plan, deploy and manage their IT infrastructures by maximizing their investment in the Microsoft System Center Platform.

This week, Quest will unveil its comprehensive solutions at the Microsoft Management Summit (booth #511), including the availability of Quest Management Extensions – Configuration Manager 2007 Edition and the Quest Management Pack for Oracle – Operations Manager 2007 Edition. Quest is also announcing dedicated initiatives supporting Microsoft’s System Center Operations Manager 2007 Cross-Platform Management Extensions and System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Performance & Resource Optimization (PRO) feature.

Quest solutions augment the following core System Center capability sets:

• Monitoring and Diagnostics – Extends the capabilities of System Center Operations Manager 2007 to heterogeneous OS, applications, databases, hardware, security components and network devices through native integration into the Operations Manager infrastructure. In addition, offers advanced management packs for Oracle, .NET, AS 400, z/OS and Cisco.
• Change and Configuration – Extends the capabilities of System Center Configuration Manager 2007 to heterogeneous OS, network and mobile devices through native integration into the Configuration Manager infrastructure.
• Backup and Recovery – Ensures 24 x 7 granular level backup and recovery for Active Directory and Exchange Server by integrating Quest Recovery Manager for Active Directory and Quest Recovery Manager for Exchange with System Center Data Protection Manager 2007.
• Provisioning and Virtualization – Delivers an advanced Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution by using System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 in combination with Provision Networks’ Virtual Access Suite as well as capabilities that allow for Virtual Machine tuning based on the load and health of Oracle instances.

“In many organizations today, IT professionals are charged with managing both physical and virtual environments that are segmented and difficult to run efficiently because of the lack of integration,” said Mike Bowe, general manager, System Center division, Quest Software. “The Microsoft System Center Family helps IT maximize return on investment while helping to lower total cost of ownership with a comprehensive management platform. Quest is committed to helping organizations maximize the capabilities of System Center, truly giving them a holistic approach to IT management.”

Quest’s continued commitment for System Center includes:

• New Offerings for Configuration Manager – Support for the newest System Center offering, Configuration Manager, including heterogeneous OS platforms, hardware and network devices.
• New Offering for Extending Operations Manager to Monitor Oracle Databases – Supports management of Oracle database instances deployed on Windows, Unix and Linux hosts through the native Operations Manager agent.
• Management Extensions Online Community Forum – The launch of www.management-extensions.org provides a user-friendly forum specifically dedicated to addressing the needs of IT professionals regarding their specific management requirements.

Quest has been working closely with Microsoft to support the recently announced Operations Manager 2007 Cross-Platform Management Extensions, as well as the Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Performance & Resource Optimization (PRO) feature included in the recently announced beta. Quest is taking advantage of Microsoft’s new cross-platform monitoring platform and management packs enabled for PRO to enhance the existing Quest Management Pack for Oracle.

“System Center now delivers broad heterogeneous support to help our customers proactively manage and optimize their physical and virtual IT environments and our partners, such as Quest, are an important part of the overall solution,” said Robert Reynolds, director of System Center product management at Microsoft Corp. “Quest’s support of our announced heterogeneous extensions to Operations Manager and Virtual Machine Manager will help our mutual customers realize the benefits of System Center across their end-to-end IT environment.”

Availability

Quest Management Xtensions – Configuration Manager 2007 Edition and the Quest Management Pack for Oracle are now available. Within the Management Pack for Oracle, support for the Microsoft Cross-Platform Extensions is in beta and expected to be available in late Q2. The Management Extensions Community Forum is available and membership is free at www.management-extensions.org. For more information and to download free evaluation copies please visit: www.quest.com/system-center or stop by the Quest booth #511 at Microsoft Management Summit.