Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 released; company announces new services and training offerings to ease adoption.

REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 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.

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'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.