Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 released; company announces new services and training offerings to ease adoption.
Following the broad product, partner and customer announcements from its “Get Virtual Now” launch last month, Microsoft Corp.’s CEO Steve Ballmer today announced the final release and availability of Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 in front of a crowd of 700 IT professionals during a TechNet Server and Tools event keynote address in London. To further assist customers with the adoption and deployment of Microsoft virtualization solutions, Microsoft announced a new offering of specialized assessment and implementation services available from the Microsoft Services organization that help customers use server virtualization, and separate new training and certifications from Microsoft Learning for IT Professionals.
“Customers have been telling us that virtualization is a top priority, but they continue to face multiple barriers to adoption, such as costs, complex tools and limited certified virtualization professionals,” said Zane Adam, senior director of virtualization strategy at Microsoft. “In response, Microsoft is breaking down these barriers through new training programs and services, interoperability, centralized management tools, and a broad partner ecosystem built around the Windows hypervisor to help make virtualization ubiquitous. Microsoft’s new virtualization products will help customers get virtual and manage their virtual and physical assets across datacenters and desktops.”
Products, Services, Training and Certification Ease Use and Adoption
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, a bare metal hypervisor-based server virtualization product, is now available as a no-cost Web download at http://www.microsoft.com/Hyper-VServer. Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 provides a simplified, reliable and optimized virtualization solution for customers to consolidate Windows or Linux workloads onto a single physical server or to run client operating systems and applications in server-based virtual machines in the data center. Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 allows customers to leverage their existing provisioning, updating, management and support tools, processes and skills.
The provisioning and management tools are based on Microsoft System Center suite, which provides centralized, enterprise-class management of physical and virtual resources across desktops and data centers. One of these products is Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, which is available as beta software; a final version will be released by the end of the month. System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 enables customers to configure and deploy new virtual machines and centrally manage their virtualized infrastructure.
“Dell is delivering server, storage and services solutions optimized for virtualization with Microsoft Hyper-V Server and System Center — integration that truly simplifies virtualization deployments,” said Rick Becker, vice president of Software and Solutions at Dell. “By using both these business-ready virtualization solutions, customers can realize a smarter path to virtualization that eases the managing of both their heterogeneous physical and virtual environments.”
“Customers want to attain the most value from their Microsoft virtualization investments, and leverage the technologies to grow their business,” said Scott Farrand, vice president, Enterprise Storage and Server Software, HP. “HP offers a combination of server, storage, software and services for Microsoft technologies, such as Hyper-V Server and System Center, that can help customers simplify their virtualization deployment and make their operations more efficient.”
Customers can now benefit from the Server Virtualization with Advanced Management offering from Microsoft Services to help maximize the value of server virtualization using Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and System Center. This offering includes assessment of existing physical infrastructure, review of potential cost savings, and proof-of-concept implementation, followed by a full design, deployment, migration and operational integration of the virtualization infrastructure.
Building on the strength and valued reputation of the Microsoft Certified Professional program, Microsoft is also delivering a new series of global virtualization training and certification offerings for IT professionals covering desktop, server and management environments. Complete details on these programs are available at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/virtualization and the Microsoft Learning Community blog at http://blogs.technet.com/mslcommunity/archive/tags/virtualization/default.aspx.
Microsoft Customers Benefit From Advanced Management and Ease of Use
Saxo Bank, an investment bank headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, brokers the trading of financial instruments to its customers. It has used Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V to help reduce costs and facilitate server consolidation, and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 has provided Saxo Bank with a way to deploy virtualization on a much wider basis. A case study is available at http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000002529.
“Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and System Center have proved to be a powerful combination, enabling us to rapidly consolidate servers and move workloads between physical and virtual environments easily while maintaining high levels of availability,” said Tore Fribert, co-chief information officer of Saxo Bank. “We’re seeing real benefits including that we expect to experience reduced costs of up to 6.8 million kroner (DKK) per year in 2010 in areas such as power consumption and hardware expenditure, as well as improved flexibility in our overall operations and the ability to adapt to changing business demands.”
Del Monte Foods, a producer of food for consumers since 1916, expects that Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 can help the company achieve annual savings between $330,000 and $430,000 over the next several years. Savings will be achieved through server consolidation in the data center, which will result in lower hardware maintenance fees and reduced power and cooling costs. A case study is available at http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000002618.
“Implementing Hyper-V and Virtual Machine Manager 2008 has brought Del Monte new levels of operational efficiency, enabling us to deliver improved results with less resources and helping us become a better partner with the overall business,” said Timothy Fraps, architecture analyst, Del Monte. “We are able to respond more rapidly to requests as we test the rollout of new servers to not only improve the productivity of our engineers, but also provide improved levels of end-user satisfaction.”