Power solutions leader APC disclosed that it has joined forces with software giant Microsoft in efforts to provide companies enhanced support for critical physical infrastructure monitoring and management.

APC in a release said as part of the team-up, its APC InfraStruXure solution will now be integrated with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007.

The APC Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007 enables integrated system and service monitoring in a multi-vendor environment, APC said.

The integration of APC’s data center management suite with Microsoft’s System Center Operations Manager 2007 will give data center managers the ability to view and manage physical infrastructure, including power, cooling, physical space and security, as well as providing a comprehensive view of the health of servers, applications, and clients within the datacenter.

“Linking the physical and server environments with the APC Management Pack through Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 allows customers to better understand the impact of physical layer changes on business applications,” Alistair Pim, VP of global strategic alliances at APC said. “Through this ongoing partnership, APC and Microsoft strive to deliver resilient, energy-efficient, and cost effective solutions for the IT environment.”

Customers will ultimately benefit enormously from the alliance, Microsoft said.

“The integration of Microsoft System Center Manager 2007 and the APC Management Pack enables our customers to better view and manage the physical infrastructure supporting key applications throughout their business,“ JD Marymee, director of strategic partner alliances, management and services division at Microsoft, said.

Microsoft System Center is an industry leading suite of management products and solutions that help customers manage the physical and virtual IT environments across data centers, client computers, and devices.

The purpose of the System Center Alliance is to provide an online community to help partners more easily collaborate on the creation of solutions for System Center, as well as deliver a vehicle for providing information about those solutions to customers and sales channels.

Joining the Microsoft System Center Alliance is an example of APC’s ongoing collaboration with Microsoft which also includes solution and software support for the Microsoft Technology Centers across the globe.