Microsoft showcases virtualization solutions

Microsoft Gulf today officially launched its new virtualization solutions in the UAE.

The company has been conducting a road show to promote its strategy for Dynamic IT, which includes the launch of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and System Centre Virtual Machine Manager, two core virtualization technologies, and demonstrations of SQL Server 2008 and Silverlight 2.0.

Server virtualization is at around 12% of all servers worldwide, according to IDC, although in the Gulf, the percentage is well below 5%.

Walid Abu-Habda, corporate vice-president, developer and platform evangelism group, Microsoft Corporation said: “IDC predicts today that about 12% of servers worldwide are virtualized, their estimation is that in four years, that will double, to about 24%. I think that is very conservative. The number one question I get today when I talk to customers is virtualization.”

Microsoft says that it is taking market share in the virtualization space, with its Hyper-V hypervisor solution now accounting for 23% of new shipments. Microsoft also says that its solutions encompass a wider range of operations, through being able to manage both physical and virtual environments, and are more cost effective, at around one third of the cost of a comparable management solution from rival VMware.

Ahmer Hassan, server and tools business group lead, Microsoft Gulf commented: “Customers have been telling us that virtualization is a top priority, but they continue to face multiple barriers to adoption, such as costs and complex tools. In response, Microsoft is breaking down these barriers through the launch of new solution, centralized management tools and a broad partner ecosystem to help make virtualization ubiquitous. With desktop and datacenter virtualization offerings available from Microsoft and our partners, customers are adopting Microsoft solutions because they have better value and will make IT operations more dynamic.”

Microsoft has already completed a number of pilot projects in the region using its virtualization technologies, including with the Bahrain Ministry of Works.

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