Microsoft Virtualization

Integrated Virtualization

What is Virtualization? It's a lot more than simply consolidating physical servers, cutting data center costs, and saving on energy consumption.

At the Microsoft Virtualization homepage you can learn about all about Virtualization, browse unique business solutions and products, and read case studies about how other companies have increased efficiency and cut costs through this important process.

Go to the Microsoft Virtualization homepage.

Environmental Sustainability

Learn how Microsoft is using the potential of software and technology to help people and businesses around the world foster environmental sustainability.

Go to the Microsoft Environment homepage.

Products

Take a look at the Microsoft products that can help your company through the Virtualization process.

Windows Server 2008

Get an overview of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 - the most advanced Windows Server operating system yet.

Virtualization with Hyper-V

Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, the next-generation hypervisor-based server virtualization technology, is available as an integral feature of Windows Server 2008 and enables you to implement server virtualization with ease.

System Center

Learn how System Center solutions help IT organizations be more productive service providers to their businesses.

System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) 2008

This straightforward and cost-effective solution for IT professionals leverages expertise and investments in Microsoft Windows Server technology to:

Manage virtual infrastructures
Provide unified management of physical and virtual machines
Consolidate underutilized physical servers
Provide rapid provisioning of new virtual machines

Core Infrastructure Optimization

Microsoft Core Infrastructure Optimization is a proven framework for evolving your IT infrastructure to become more agile, secure, and better-managed, while reducing overall IT costs and making better use of resources.

Find out how your IT department can become a stronger strategic asset to your business.

LeaseWeb

Virtual Platform Boosts Hosting Firm's Growth and Client Services

According to HostReview magazine, Netherlands-based LeaseWeb is the world's fastest growing Web-hosting company, having doubled its employees and its hosting network capacity during 2007. The company is also Dell's largest Internet partner in Europe and a leader in "green" hosting. LeaseWeb continually evaluates state-of-the-art technology to improve the quality, range, and cost-effectiveness of its customer services and to reduce its environmental footprint. In 2008, it turned to virtualization and Microsoft® Virtualization technology to help meet its goals and to ensure continued strong growth. While participating in the Rapid Deployment Program for Hyper-V™ (part of Windows Server 2008) and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, LeaseWeb found that Microsoft software was easier to implement and cost less than rival offerings, and enabled it to meet its goals.

Banque de Luxembourg

Private Bank Virtualizes Data Centers for IT, Business, and Environmental Benefits

Banque de Luxembourg is one of that country's leading private banks, serving private investors across the continent. To uphold its tradition of innovation and demonstrate its commitment to environmental responsibility, the bank decided to consolidate its data centers through virtualization technology. Using Windows Server® 2008 Datacenter with Hyper-V™ technology and Microsoft® System Center Virtual Machine Manager, the bank implemented 50 virtual machines in a high-availability configuration running on 7 physical servers. Now, it is expediting the deployment of new hardware and software, delivering line-of-business applications to users one week faster than before, boosting application availability, and simplifying data-center management. It also will reduce the need for computer hardware, power and cooling, and office space, for a more cost-effective, environmentally sound operation.

Kentucky Department of Education

Educators Aim to Improve Education, Trim Servers by 60 Percent using Virtualization

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) wanted to streamline data center and administration costs so it could direct more resources to new educational services. It also wanted to improve server redundancy for higher availability of teaching applications. As a cost-effective way to achieve these goals, KDE has embraced server virtualization using the Windows Server® 2008 operating system with Hyper-V™ technology. Using Hyper-V, KDE plans to reduce its centralized physical server holdings by 60 percent by 2010. Fewer servers will reduce the server management workload. To attain further efficiencies, the IT staff is considering using Microsoft® System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008. More importantly, by using virtualization, IT resources will be freed up and available for new services that support better teaching, and will improve server uptime to reduce classroom interruptions.

Maxol

Oil Firm Grows Business While Trimming Servers by 80 Percent

The Maxol markets a comprehensive range of oil and petroleum products to all sectors of the Irish market. Always trying to trim costs, Maxol wanted to curb the rate of server growth and the costs associated with server proliferation. It also wanted to boost utilization of its servers, some of which ran at a limited capacity. Maxol used the Windows Server® 2008 Enterprise operating system featuring Hyper-V™ virtualization technology to consolidate 22 servers to 6 servers, an 80 percent reduction. Maxol estimates that it will save approximately U.S.$94,000 in hardware and U.S.$47,000 in electrical costs over three years. Server utilization has jumped to 30 percent, and server management is easier using Microsoft® System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008. The IT staff can create virtual machines in a fraction of the time needed to deploy physical servers.