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Coming Soon: Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta!

Building on our commitment to provide customers with the right technologies to virtualize their IT environments, today we’re announcing that the public beta of Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 will be released by the end of July. We’ve posted on the contents of SP1 before, but the beta release will be the first time you’ll be able to actually get your mitts on the new code. In case you missed our earlier post, here’s a recap:

SP1 will be a joint release for both Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. From the server side, we’ve included two key new features:

Dynamic memory is an enhancement to Hyper-V in R2 and allows IT administrators to pool all the memory available on a physical host and dynamically distribute it to virtual machines running on that host as necessary. That means based on changes in workload, your VMs will be able to receive new memory allocations without a service interruption. Check out a deeper look at Dynamic Memory.

RemoteFX is the latest addition to Microsoft’s desktop virtualization stack. Using this new feature in Windows Server 2008 R2, you’ll be able to deliver an even richer and more user-transparent desktop virtualization experience. RemoteFX functions independently of any graphics stack and supports any screen content, including rich content like Silverlight or Flash. It also enhances the end-user’s hardware experience with support for USB redirection. Because it uses virtualized graphics resources, RemoteFX works on a wide array of target devices, which means you can deploy it over both thick and thin client hosts and a wide variety of network configurations. Check out more information on RemoteFX.

Additionally, take a gander at these video demonstrations of Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX for a look at both these new features in action. Look for more information on SP1’s installation requirements, additional resources and a link to the bits in the coming weeks. And as always, feel free to contact us with your questions and feedback.

Oliver Rist

Sr. Product Manager

Windows Server Marketing