Both business watchers and clients are closely viewing the effects that virtualization and cloud computing will have on Windows Server’s evolution. Most people are embracing the benefits of virtualization, and many are wondering how virtualization relates to the cloud. Businesses want to know what that relationship will mean as they bet their future on Windows Server. The good news is that those very factors—virtualization and the cloud—are the seeds for Windows Server growth and new advantages for business.
We continue to be bullish on Windows Server because we believe that the economics of the cloud will dictate ongoing investments in servers. So it’s no surprise to see that in today’s report from IDC,
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Windows Server 2008 new license shipments is projected to grow at a 2010-2015 CAGR of 8.7%, and the reason is that buyers can build on Windows Server and Hyper-V as they explore the benefits that the cloud can bring. IDC credits Microsoft for evolving Windows Server with Hyper-V to expand the advantages of virtualization: “The recent release of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 marked an important milestone, not for the operating system itself but rather for the benefit it brought to Hyper-V. It included two technologies that were virtualization related: Dynamic Memory for Hyper-V (for better scale and performance of the base hypervisor) and Remote FX (for better client performance in a virtualized client deployment).”
The report also suggests that virtualization brings with it new opportunities for Windows Server customers.
o Cloud Integration: While much of the focus today is on Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS),
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o Unlimited Virtualization: IDC sees more consumers buying premium SKUs that offer better virtualization rights. Because of that,
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These findings deliver good news to Windows Server buyers. Whether companies are just starting to virtualize or are ready to take advantage of the cloud,
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