Beyond Server Virtualization: Common Technologies for Your Move to Cloud Computing

Gartner just released their 2012 Magic Quadrant for x86 Server Virtualization Infrastructure*, and I am very happy to report that Microsoft is listed as a leader. You can download the full report at the link above, and I hope you read the research in detail. The report reviews Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2 – keep in mind, the virtualization and private cloud capabilities in Windows Server 2012 are even better! You don’t have to wait for the general availability of Windows Server 2012 later this year. You can download the release candidate right now.

You can also read two other newly-released reports: Hyper-V and SQL Server 2012 enterprise workload performance report from Enterprise Strategy Group, and an IDC white paper sponsored by Microsoft,  Delivering Private Clouds today with System Center 2012 (with a supporting webcast). These add to the growing quantity of recognition for the enterprise readiness of Microsoft’s virtualization and private cloud solutions.

Last year marked a significant milestone. There are now more virtualized operating systems installed globally than there are non-virtual instances.

But this is just the beginning. We know that IT leaders want to move beyond virtualization and need the flexibility to use capacity from multiple clouds. So at our MMS conference in April, I announced the availability of Microsoft System Center 2012, a solution that lets you manage your applications wherever they are, across physical, virtual, private cloud and public cloud environments. Together, System Center 2012 and Windows Server are optimized to help businesses explore cloud computing easily and more affordably, making cloud computing approachable for almost all organizations. At MMS, one of my favorite demos showed how System Center 2012 can set up a basic private cloud infrastructure using existing servers in less than a minute. That’s fast.

I encourage you to read this article by our Director of Product Marketing Edwin Yuen, which will go into even more detail on reasons to choose Hyper-V for your virtualization and private cloud infrastructure.

Thank you. Brad

*Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose