Contributed By: Cliff Hobbs [MVP SMS]
As detailed in the "Multi-Threaded Software Inventory Processing in SMS 2003 SP2" article, Software Inventory processing in SMS 2003 SP2 has now been changed to be multi-threaded.

This feature is not enabled by default. To enable it you need to set the relevant values for the following Registry keys under "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\SMS\Components\SMS Software Inventory Processor":

• Backlog Threading Threshold - This Registry key controls the size of the backlog of Software Inventory files before the Software Inventory Processor creates another thread to help with the processing. As soon as the number of backlogged files falls below this value the additional thread is killed. By default this is set to "1024".
   
• Max Worker Threads - This Registry key control the maximum number of threads the Software Inventory Processor can launch to help clear any backlog of Software Inventory files. Microsoft recommend that this value be set to the number of processors in the Site Server as setting it any larger has no effect.  The default value is "3" (weird as most servers are multiples of 2 processors) with a maximum of "10".