[thinnews] Microsoft Announces General Availability of Virtual Server 2005

From: "Jim Kenzig http://thin.net" <jimkenz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: thinnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 08:44:58 -0400
Microsoft Announces General Availability of Virtual Server 2005
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/sep04/09-13AvailabilityVS2005P
R.asp
Virtual Machine Solution for Windows Server 2003 Delivers On Dynamic Systems
Initiative Road Map

REDMOND, Wash. -- Sept. 13, 2004 -- Microsoft Corp. today announced the
general availability and pricing of Microsoft® Virtual Server 2005.
Available in both Standard and Enterprise editions, Virtual Server 2005
helps customers reduce hardware costs and increase operational efficiency in
three key scenarios: automation of software test and development
environments; rehosting of legacy applications; and consolidation of
production server workloads such as networking, directory infrastructure or
departmental applications. As a key deliverable of the Dynamic Systems
Initiative, Microsoft's vision for simplifying and automating the way
customers design, deploy and operate distributed systems, Virtual Server
2005 provides customers with more flexibility and control in the
provisioning of data center resources.

"Our customers are looking for ways to cut infrastructure costs and make
better use of their IT and development teams. They want to streamline
application testing and development, consolidate to fewer servers and move
legacy applications to new hardware running on the Windows Server (TM) 2003
platform," said Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Windows Server
Division at Microsoft. "Virtual Server 2005 meets these needs and provides
easy, automated deployment and configuration. This improved efficiency and
simplicity represents progress toward our Dynamic Systems Initiative vision
of reducing IT complexity."

As part of Windows Server System (TM) , Microsoft's comprehensive family of
server software, Virtual Server 2005 helps customers increase operational
efficiencies associated with testing and deploying their solutions built on
Windows Server 2003. With Virtual Server 2005, early adopter customers have
been able to decrease their server provisioning time by 50 percent to 95
percent, while reducing physical server counts by 50 percent to 80 percent
through consolidation.

"Virtual Server 2005 will allow us to get out of the one-application,
one-server paradigm when dealing with applications with low system
requirements," said Eric Hart, senior network engineer at PING Golf. "We
will be able to consolidate 77 percent of these applications in our
datacenter. Now we have the ability to provide a scalable, fault-tolerant
and hardware-independent solution for deploying single-server applications
in a cost-effective manner."

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 includes simple installation and convenient
Web-based management of virtual machines, as well as robust storage and
networking features. In addition, physical server management tools from
Microsoft and third-party management vendors have been updated to provide
administrators with a seamless one-to-many management experience across a
combination of physical and virtual servers. For example, a Virtual Server
2005 Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 will enable
centralized monitoring and performance management of multiple virtual and
physical servers.

Hardware vendors such as AMD, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens, HP, IBM, Intel, NEC and
Unisys; systems integrators such as Accenture, Avanade, EDS, HP Services and
IBM Global Services; and management software vendors including CA, HP and
VERITAS, are offering a broad choice of tools, solutions and guidance to
help customers more easily deploy and manage Virtual Server 2005 on Windows
Server 2003.

"Gartner predicts that enterprises that don't leverage virtualization
technologies will spend as much as 25 percent more for their x86 servers,"
said Tom Bittman, research vice president at Gartner Inc. "Server
virtualization software can help enterprises reduce the time, effort and
costs associated with the consolidation of servers and applications."

Virtual Server 2005 Pricing and Availability

Virtual Server 2005 Standard Edition supports up to four processors, with an
estimated retail price of $499 (U.S.). Virtual Server 2005 Enterprise
Edition supports up to 32 processors, with an estimated retail price of $999
(U.S.). Both versions will be available within 30 days through retail and
volume licensing and will be licensed on a per-physical server basis.

More information on Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 can be found at
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/evaluation/vsover
view.mspx.

About Windows Server System

Microsoft Windows Server System is an integrated and interoperable server
infrastructure that reduces IT complexity to enable IT professionals to
deliver innovative solutions that meet the changing needs of business. With
Windows Server 2003 at the foundation, Windows Server System is engineered
from the ground up for XML Web services based on Microsoft .NET technologies
to connect information, people, systems and devices. Based on a common
software architecture that spans all facets of IT from design, development
and deployment through ongoing management and usage, Windows Server System
provides comprehensive IT infrastructure for operations (security, systems
management, networked storage), applications (data management and analysis,
e-business) and information work (messaging, communications and
collaboration). More information on Microsoft Windows Server System can be
found at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.

Microsoft, Windows Server and Windows Server System are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or
other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the
trademarks of their respective owners.

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[thinnews] Microsoft Announces General Availability of Virtual Server 2005

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