The distributed nature of modern applications and systems, combined with the ever increasing requirement of IT to respond to new business requirements, has led to increased complexity in modern IT infrastructure; a level of complexity that spans the entire IT life cycle, presenting challenges associated with developing, deploying, and operating these systems. The Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI) is a Microsoft and industry effort to enhance the Microsoft® Windows® platform and deliver a coordinated set of solutions that dramatically simplify and automate how businesses design, deploy, and operate distributed systems. Microsoft is investing heavily in software R&D and aligning partner investments to deliver end-to-end offerings integrated across application development tools, operating systems, applications, hardware, and management tools that will result in reduced costs, improved reliability, and increased responsiveness across the entire IT life cycle.