Microsoft launches Windows Server 2008

Microsoft has today launched the long-awaited new server version of Windows, formerly codenamed Longhorn Server and now shipping with the moniker of Windows Server 2008.

In addition to the new Windows release, which will be available in multiple iterations and sub-versions, the company also launched new versions of its developer suite, Visual Studio 2008 and enterprise database platform, SQL Server 2008.

The three new platform launches form the basis for a renewed effort by the software developer to target the large enterprise market, not only with operating systems, but also with client and back office applications.

The new Windows release addresses several major user requirements and issues with Microsoft's server operating system platform, including toughening up security and authentication options, as well as providing a platform for its new virtualisation technology, Hyper-V.

The release of Hyper-V as a part of the server platform marks a major shift from Microsoft towards virtual computing, following several lacklustre server and client virtual computing applications that failed to take-off. It also signals a clear intention to go after market leader VMware as well as established niche virtualisation providers such as Parallels. Microsoft has realised the potential for increasing sales of Windows Server licences as well as growing customer demand for reliable virtual server and client computing platforms as companies try to do more with their data centres and improve server utilisation.

"When we talk about virtualisation, we usually think about server virtualisation and creating multiple instances on a single box," said Larry Orecklin, general manager of Microsoft's server and tools division. "However, that is just one part of virtualisation, which is after all about extracting one layer from another to make more effective use of it. There's desktop and application virtualisation, where you isolate an application for compatibility and security purposes, application streaming, as well as virtualising the entire operating system instance on either a desktop or server.

"Virtualisaton tackles the challenges of complexity, agility, security and manageability in enterprise computing," added Dr Andrew Hopkirk, head of projects at the National Computing Centre, who was speaking at the launch about the general increase in demand for enterprise virtualisation solutions among business IT buyers.

New security functions and features include an overhaul of group policy creation and management, network access protection to defend servers from infected machines on a local network, new encryption options, federated Active Directory services to support trusted relationships across networks and a server version of the BitLocker drive encryption found in Windows Vista.

"We've worked hard with Windows Server 2008 to improve security without impacting on productivity," said Microsoft's UK managing director Gordon Frazer.

"The enhancement we have made to group policies allow companies to be more granular in the way they control and manage data, which is important for business intelligence and how you deploy that to the masses," added Bruce Lynn, director of Microsoft's server business in the UK.

As previously reported by IT PRO, Windows Server 2008 will be available in no less than eight different versions, each with varying levels of feature support.

There will be three main versions - Standard, Enterprise and Datacentre, keeping in line with the outgoing 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 - Datacentre, priced per processor) respectively. UK-specific pricing has not yet been announced at the time of writing. There will be three parallel versions of Standard, Enterprise and Datacentre, all without the Hyper-V element, and all costing exactly $28 (£13) less than the versions with Hyper-V.

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, while a stripped-out web service build, called Windows Server 2008 Web Server, which is basically little more than the IIS web server component, will cost $469 (£224).

Specific details and pricing of SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 are still to be announced. We will update this article as this is announced.

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