Intel Press Release

Intel Releases Toolkit to Boost PC Management

First Release of "ManagedPC ToolKit" Helps Developers and IT Professionals Reap Maximum Benefits of DMI 2.0

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 22, 1997 -- Intel Corporation today released the ManagedPC ToolKit to help developers and information technology professionals boost the manageability and further reduce the support costs of connected PCs. The first release of the toolkit is designed to deliver maximum benefit from the Desktop Management Interface (DMI) specification version 2.0. This release provides key tools, utilities and test suites for DMI implementation as well as advanced object-oriented application development tools that significantly ease access to DMI information.

The ManagedPC ToolKit provides the latest technology building blocks from Intel's Wired for Management initiative, which is designed to reduce the costs of business computing without sacrificing the benefits of high-performance processing. Intel's WFM initiative comprises technology building blocks, products, alliances and specifications such as the DMI.

Pat Gelsinger, vice president and general manager of Intel's Desktop Products Group, announced the kit during his keynote address at the Desktop Management Task Force's annual conference. The initial release of the kit includes the DMI 2.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) and the Managed Objects ToolKit. Intel will extend the kit in future releases to deliver additional development capabilities.

"The ManagedPC ToolKit takes another step forward in making the Intel Architecture universally and easily manageable," said Gelsinger. "By providing tools in the first release to unleash all the benefits of DMI 2.0, the kit will help OEMs, ISVs and IT professionals make their systems easier to manage and further reduce ownership costs in the business computing environments of their customers and their clients."

The DMI 2.0 SDK provides tools and utilities that help hardware and software developers design products that take advantage of the interplatform management capabilities of the DMI. The DMI specification defines a common framework for managing diverse desktop, server and mobile systems that allows products from many vendors to be managed by any DMI-enabled management application.

The SDK includes several elements:

  • DMI 2.0 Service Provider is software that establishes the link between managed products and the applications that deliver management value to users.
  • DMI Component Test System allows automated testing of manageable products designed for DMI 2.0.
  • Compliance Checker is a utility that not only ensures the compliance of managed products with DMI 2.0, but allows testing for a range of user-defined levels of management support. For example, the utility will serve to verify compliance with Intel's Wired for Management Baseline Specification.

The Managed Objects ToolKit includes ActiveX controls to enable a new level of management application development. With the kit, an application developer or IT professional can rapidly access and manipulate management data using advanced programming languages such as C++ and JAVA. In addition, the Managed Objects ToolKit is of particular value for the new class of developers using OLE-enabled common business applications (such as Microsoft* Excel*) or languages (such as Microsoft Visual Basic). These tools help to reduce the cost and complexity of custom management application development.

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.