IT Forum: Microsoft announces eight versions of Server 2008

Microsoft has announced that there will be eight different versions of its next server operating system, Windows Server 2008, when it goes on sale on 27 February 2008.

There will be three main versions - Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter, keeping in line with the existing Server 2003 range. All three of these editions will have the Hyper-V (previously codenamed Viridian) virtualisation technology integrated into the operating system, and will cost $999 (£477 - Standard with five client access licences), $3,999 (£1,912 - Enterprise with 25 CALs) and $2,999 (£1,434 - Datacenter, priced per processor) respectively. UK-specific pricing has not yet been announced.

In addition to the three main releases, there will be a dedicated build of the OS for servers based on Itanium processor technology, costing $2,999 (£1,434) per processor.

A dedicated web service build, called Windows Server 2008 Web Server, which is stripped down to focus on the IIS web server component, will cost $469 (£224).

Perhaps the most interesting announcement is that there will be three parallel versions of Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter, all without the Hyper-V technology, and all costing exactly $28 (£13) than the versions with Hyper-V.

"There will be eight different skews of Windows Server, each one tailored to a different business sector and business need," said Bob Kelly, corporate vice president of Microsoft.

Hyper-V will also be available as a standalone product, called Microsoft Hyper-V Server, for use with those versions that don't have the technology integrated into the OS. The standalone Hyper-V will cost.......$28.

While Microsoft is talking up the choice aspect of the decision to offer the most popular versions of Windows Server with or without Hyper-V, delegates at the company's IT Forum conference in Barcelona where the versions and pricing were announced have highlighted that this may also be a pre-emptive move to prevent virtualisation rivals such as VMware from crying foul over the integration of Microsoft's own virtualisation technology into the platform.

"The announcement does smack a bit of the version of Windows XP that Microsoft released without Windows Media Player to try and comply with the EU anti-trust ruling," said one delegate, who asked not to be named. "It's not a bad thing that Microsoft has done it, in fact it is a good thing - choice is always a good thing, though for 28 bucks more we may as well buy the version with everything included".

The company also announced a validation programme, to help third party software makers conduct testing and gain certification for products that will work correctly in a virtualised environment.

"We are working with many hardware and software providers to ensure compatibility and optimisation of software running in a Hyper-V environment," said Mike Neil, general manager of virtualisation strategy and Microsoft. "We are already working with Sun to ensure that Solaris will work well in a virtualised environment, as well as working through our relationship with Novell to ensure that Linux can run well as a guest operating system."

The Server Virtualisation Validation Program will be opened up to third party software providers to self-test and validate their products in a virtual environment from June 2008, and only applies to Windows Server 2008, not to the existing Virtual Server product.

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