Enterprise Systems | Microsoft's Virtualization Strategy Coming Into Focus

Enterprise Systems Microsoft's Virtualization Strategy Coming Into Focus: "Microsoft's Virtualization Strategy Coming Into Focus
Will Microsoft's server virtualization push change the rules of the game?"

Given the dominance of VMWare Inc. in the x86 virtualization space, Microsoft Corp.'s own efforts -- which until recently have seemed either fitful or faltering -- have fallen curiously flat.
That's set to change with the forthcoming release of Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft's long-promised Hyper-V virtualization technology -- although just how much it will change is anyone's guess.
Things became more clearly focused in December, when Microsoft unveiled its first Hyper-V public beta. On top of this, Redmond announced that it's already developing the next version of its System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM), which allows customers to quickly provision and configure new virtual machines and centrally manage virtual infrastructures running on Hyper-V, Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2, VMware ESX Server and Virtual Infrastructure 3 (V13). (The first version of SCVMM shipped in October 2007.)
Microsoft confirmed that the final version of Hyper-V will ship within 180 days of Windows Server 2008's RTM date.