It's a heady slate of software and services, all built or acquired by Microsoft, that needs to come together into a logical whole.

"Microsoft has taken on a substantial challenge," says Scott Crawford, an analyst with Enterprise Management Associates. "But don't overlook that Microsoft already has one of the most widely deployed identity management resources in the industry: Active Directory. Identity is definitely a factor in a successful security strategy."

Crawford says Microsoft's challenge is to bring the complete product portfolio to market, which has been an ongoing problem evidenced by delays in Stirling and ILM. Microsoft also needs to overcome setbacks in the security arena, such as its panned OneCare Live service that will give way this year to Morro, a free service.

"This is not a short-term strategy, nor is it something that either Microsoft -- or their customers -- can expect to realize overnight, or even in a short period of time," Crawford says.

He says Microsoft will have to "execute credibly on bringing these products to market and making them readily deployable, if this ambitious strategy is to succeed. Still, one should not overlook the successes the company has had in systems management, for example, considering where they started from there."