MS DTC was first released as part of SQL Server 6.5 and is included as a component in the MTS. MS DTC implements a transparent two-phase commit protocol that ensures that the transaction outcome (either commit or abort) is consistent across all resource managers involved in a transaction. The MS DTC ensures atomicity, regardless of failures, race conditions, or availability.
MS DTC supports resource managers that implement either the OLE transaction protocol or the X/Open XA specification for Distributed Transaction Processing.