A system and method for scalable systems management where a plurality of devices in a system is managed with a systems management infrastructure. An abstraction layer software application is implemented overlaying the systems management infrastructure for managing task distribution and status gathering for the plurality of devices in the system. A web interface is provided by the software application, the web interface being useable by a user to manage the task distribution and the status gathering. The task distribution may include gateway load balancing, distributing software updates, distributing new software for installation, or distributing software fixes. The status gathering may include performing a hardware inventory scan of a device, performing a software inventory scan of a device, identifying what software is installed on a device, or identifying types of hardware components in a device.