SuperSite Blog : Microsoft Servers

The New Efficiency

pthurrott — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:06:22 GMT

Microsoft today officially introduced its marketing phrase for the Windows 7 - Windows Server 2008 R2 - Exchange Server 2010 "trifecta" launch which is now underway. It's called "The New Efficiency," and while it's as groan-worthy as any other Microsoft marketing slogan ("Do more with less," for example), there's a certain ring to this one. (Confusingly, Microsoft is also using the phrase, "The New Normal" to describe this set of products.) Here's an executive email from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer that outlines where Microsoft is heading with this.

In all the talk about the economy, one term that comes up more and more frequently is something called "the new normal." I like this phrase because it speaks to the fact that economic reality has undergone a fundamental shift over the course of the past 12 months.

So what is the nature of this shift? After years of economic expansion fueled by unrealistic rates of consumption and unsustainable levels of private debt, the global economy has reset at a lower baseline level of activity. Today, people borrow less, save more, and spend with much greater caution.

This is the new normal and it will be with us for some time to come. The issue now is how to respond.

I believe the new normal requires a new kind of efficiency built on technology innovations that enable businesses and organizations to simultaneously drive cost savings, improve productivity, and speed innovation.

I want to share my thoughts with you about how information technology can enable organizations to operate more efficiently, more effectively, and more strategically as they respond to the new normal by moving toward the new efficiency.

The New Efficiency: With Less, Do More

In the new normal, one thing is clear: cutting costs is extremely important. But cost cutting by itself is not a long-term winning strategy. To build a sustainable competitive advantage, companies must ultimately do two things — increase productivity and find ways to deliver new value to customers.

The issue, then, is how can organizations take costs out of their operations, increase productivity, and expand their capacity for innovation all at the same time?

For years, we’ve talked about how information technology enables companies to do more with less. But during this economic reset, IT provides business leaders with the answer to a slightly different question: Can my company with less, do more?

Other trends give this question even greater urgency. Workforces are more distributed and employees are more mobile. Government regulations are increasing and compliance requirements are mounting. Data security is more important to preserve and more difficult to maintain.

At the same time, companies struggle with legacy technology systems built on incompatible and disconnected applications that limit access to information and impede collaboration. The complexity of these systems forces IT departments to focus too much of their time and too many of their resources on providing basic services and protecting security.

Today, a new generation of business solutions is transforming IT into a strategic asset that makes it possible to cut costs without crippling customer service or constraining workforce creativity and effectiveness. A new generation of business solutions is eliminating the barriers between systems and applications, and automating routines tasks so IT professionals can focus on high-value work that is aligned to strategic priorities. These technologies can help organizations reduce risk, improve security, and drive down support costs.

This is IT how achieves the new efficiency with less.

At the same time, these technologies streamline access to information no matter where it is stored and enable people to work together securely no matter where they are located. This new generation of business solutions also provides improved mobile computing capabilities so people who work in a branch office, at home, or on the road can be as productive as employees who work at corporate headquarters.

Most important, a new wave of IT technologies offers advanced tools that enable employees to transform insights into innovations that address unmet market opportunities and meet unfulfilled customer needs.

This powerful combination of greater productivity and improved capacity for innovation is how IT enables businesses to do more.

Software Solutions for the New Efficiency

This year, Microsoft is introducing a wave of new software created specifically to enable businesses to tackle their most pressing challenges and strengthen their ability to deliver innovation to the marketplace.

It starts with Windows 7, the newest version of our flagship PC operating system. Windows 7 simplifies tasks and lets people get more done in less time with fewer clicks. Ready to deploy now, it enhances corporate data protection and security, and increases control to improve compliance and reduce risk. Part of our Windows Optimized Desktop solution that includes Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, Windows 7 streamlines management of PC environments, making it easier to reduce costs, improve performance, and enable end users to work anywhere.

These and other enhancements are the result of close collaboration with millions of customers and thousands of IT professionals who participated in testing programs and provided suggestions about the capabilities and improvements they wanted to see. Thanks in large part to their help, Windows 7 is the best PC operating system we have ever built.

We’ve also just released a new version of our server operating system. Windows Server 2008 R2 is designed to increase the reliability and flexibility of server infrastructures. It provides a productive server platform that offers cost-effective virtualization and business continuity, great power saving capabilities, and a superior experience for end users.

Later this year, we will also launch Exchange Server 2010. The cornerstone of Microsoft’s unified communications technologies, Exchange Server 2010 provides a great email and inbox experience that extends from the PC to the phone to the browser and it helps companies archive and protect information efficiently. It also enables companies to reduce costs by delivering a built-in voice mail solution and providing low-cost storage options.

Achieving the Benefits of the New Efficiency Today

Organizations around the globe are already deploying these solutions and reaping the benefits.

At Intel, for example, Windows 7 is providing improved performance, greater application responsiveness, and a better platform for mobile workers. Ford is taking advantage of Exchange 2010 and Windows 7 to streamline communications, improve decision making, and boost productivity. Continental Airlines expects to save more than $1.5 million annually in hardware, software, and operational costs through the server virtualization capabilities of Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V technology.

At Convergent Computing, an information technology consulting firm based in California, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 will eliminate the $40,000 in annual spending that was needed to maintain a virtual private network for the company’s 55 employees. In addition, employees can now access the company’s corporate network instantly and download files 30 to 40 percent faster than before.

Another example is Baker Tilly, a London financial services firm with more than 2,000 employees and a network of partners in 110 countries. One of the first businesses to deploy Windows 7 on a company-wide basis, Baker Tilly expects to save about $160 per PC by reducing deployment, management, and energy costs. And because Windows 7 improves productivity, it offers the potential to increase billable time for mobile workers at a rate of nearly $600 per PC. This could return the equivalent of one-half of one percent of the company’s current gross annual revenue to the bottom line.

Businesses aren’t alone in their struggle to respond to the new normal. Governments must figure out how to deliver more services on budgets that are sharply constrained by falling revenue. As part of its response, the city of Miami deployed Windows 7 and expects that it will save nearly $400,000 a year in reduced security, management, and energy costs.

Ideal Conditions for an Era of Innovation and Growth

Despite the challenges posed by the global economic reset, I’m optimistic about the long-term opportunities that lie ahead.

I’m optimistic because there are encouraging signs that growth may resume in many parts of the world during the course of the next year.

More than that, I’m optimistic because I believe we are entering a period of technology-driven transformation that will see a surge in productivity and a flowering of innovation.

The new efficiency will not only help companies respond to today’s economic reality, it will lay the foundation for systems and solutions that connect people to information, applications, and to other people in new ways. The result will be a wave of innovative products and services that will jumpstart economic growth as companies deliver breakthroughs that solve old problems and serve as the catalyst for new businesses and even new industries.

This too will be the new normal — economic growth driven not by debt and consumption, but by rising productivity and new ideas that provide real value to people throughout their lives. Information technology will play an important role. I look forward to seeing the progress that results.

Steve

Microsoft delivers Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

pthurrott — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:52:46 GMT

Microsoft shipped the free version of its second-generation hypervisor virtualization platform, Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, and if you look over the docs, you’ll see that this thing is vastly improved compared to the first version. In fact, it appears to pick up the most important capabilities and functionality of its Hyper-V cousin (the version in Windows Server 2008 R2). So it features Live Migration (where the original didn’t even support quick migration), as well as some pretty heady hardware support (up to 8 physical processors, up from 4; up to 64 processor cores in virtual machines, up from 24; up to 1 TB of RAM; up from 32 GB; and so on). Pretty amazing. Did I mention it was free?

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is a stand-alone product that provides a reliable and optimized virtualization solution enabling organizations to improve server utilization and reduce costs. With the addition of new features such as live migration and expanded processor and memory support for host systems, it allows organizations to consolidate workloads onto a single physical server and is a good solution for organizations who are consolidating servers as well as for development and test environments.

By having the ability to plug into existing IT infrastructures Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 enables companies to reduce costs, improve utilization and provision new servers. It allows IT professionals to leverage existing patching, provisioning, management and support tools and processes. IT Professionals can continue to leverage their individual skills and the collective knowledge of Microsoft tools, minimizing the learning curve to manage Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. In addition, with Microsoft providing comprehensive support for Microsoft applications and heterogeneous guest operating systems support, customers can virtualize with confidence and peace of mind.

I'm sure the release of this on the eve of VMWare's VMWorld show is coincidental. :)

Microsoft finalizes System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2

pthurrott — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:59:24 GMT

... and really needs to work on simplifying their product names. :)

Here's some info from Microsoft:

Today, Microsoft announced the release to manufacturing (RTM) of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 (SCVMM08 R2). General availability through volume licensing will be October 1.

Please know that an additional feature of SCVMM08 R2 is the ability to manage VMs running on VMware vSphere 4.0. The functionality will be the same customers experience using SCVMM08 to manage VMware ESX.

Overall, early adopter customers like Lionbridge Technologies, Continental Airlines, Indiana University Auxiliary IT, MaximumASP and Sporton have been really pleased with their experience running SCVMM 2008 R2 and find it especially complimentary when deployed alongside Windows Hyper-V 2.0.

I hadn't heard about vSphere 4.0 support. I believe that is new.

More information about today's news can be found on the System Center blog:

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 has RTM’d and GA via volume licensing is set for October 1. This is great news for all and I’d like to especially thank our VMM 2008 R2 Development, Product Management, and Test teams. Lots of hard work fueled by their passion in virtualization and management has resulted in a very good software release.

A 180-day evaluation version is now available, too, on the Microsoft Download site. You can access it here.

Please experience for yourself what the 10,000+ people who have previously downloaded our ‘Release Candidate’ plus organizations such as Continental Airlines, Lionbridge Technologies, and Indiana University have seen with VMM 2008 R2!

I encourage everyone to explore the new System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 and its new features such as quick storage migration, live migration, and many others. We even offer support for vSphere 4.

To learn more on the new features and capabilities of VMM2008 R2, please try to attend our upcoming TechNet session ‘Technical Overview of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2’. Presented by our Technical Product Manager Kenon Owens, it will be chocked full of new and cool VMM 2008 R2 items. Go here to register for this Wednesday, September 09, 2009 (10:00 AM Pacific) event.

Exchange Server 2010 RC

pthurrott — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:42:43 GMT

As promised, Microsoft has delivered a public Release Candidate (RC) version of Exchange Server 2010. It's available in three ways:

Trial Software

The new Exchange Server 2010 Release Candidate is here. Download this 120-day free release candidate version and try the new features in your own environment. When you register for the Exchange Server 2010 RC software you will automatically receive valuable product evaluation resources assembled in one convenient location.

Virtual Hard Drive

The Microsoft VHD Test Drive Program provides customers with an enhanced server-based software evaluation experience that’s faster, better supported, and more flexible. You can now access the entire catalog of pre-configured Microsoft and partner products and solutions in the VHD format and start evaluating and testing today.

Online Trial

Experience the new world of Software plus Services through Microsoft Exchange Online, which enables you to try all the messaging and calendaring functionality you need with none of the administrative burden.

Enjoy.

Exchange Server 2010 RC1 this week

pthurrott — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:27:39 GMT

Steven Bink reports that Microsoft is set to deliver the Release Candidate 1 (RC1) version of its upcoming Exchange Server 2010:

Sources tell me that Microsoft will release Exchange 2010 Release Candidate 1 for public download this week!

So get your labs ready with Windows 2008 R2 to start testing out the next generation of the world’s most popular e-mail servers.

Exchange 2010 will help organizations reduce costs, protect communications and delight e-mail users ...

My understanding is that Exchange 2010 will be part of the Office 2010 product wave, but that Microsoft will actually launch it alongside Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 in October. So it sort of makes sense that the final release would be somewhere between October and whenever the majority of Office 2010 launches in 1H 2010.

WebSphere Loves Windows…Who Knew?

pthurrott — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:10:16 GMT

Microsoft is taking it's "I'm a PC" campaign to the server and busting some myths in the process. First stop, IBM WebSphere:

For years I’ve heard people say that Microsoft technology is great for mid range solutions. I can’t tell you how many CIOs have told me things like “we use WinTel for department level applications but the big iron apps run on Unix.” There’s a general belief in the industry that the further you get into the datacenter, the less Microsoft technology you tend to find. While license numbers, data from IDC and other major third parties paint a different story, we decided it was time to put ourselves to the test against one of the biggest players in the space – AIX running on optimized IBM Power6 with WebSphere.

In an era of cost cutting and the need to squeeze as much optimization out of systems as possible, we think customers will find this information very interesting.

Let’s start with costs… Greg’s findings demonstrate that customers save up to 81% in total system costs by running applications on Microsoft .NET and Windows Server 2008 vs. IBM WebSphere 7 on POWER6/AIX. The study also showed that customers who run their IBM WebSphere 7 applications on Windows Server 2008 and Hewlett Packard/Intel 64-bit blade servers can save up to 66% in total system costs when compared to running the same applications on IBM WebSphere 7 on an IBM Power6/AIX platform. These results illuminate significant savings for businesses of all sizes, and particularly speak to the value of the Windows Server platform. Our hope is that people are able to make use of these findings to get more for their money, either by making new investments or by maximizing assets they are already using. Who knew WebSphere and Windows Server were such a match?

Most folks tend to buy into the potential for cost savings but speculate that they give up performance to get it. The study also found that for the hardware configurations tested the Microsoft .NET Framework on Windows Server 2008 handles 57% more load than WebSphere 7 running on IBM Power6/AIX. We also found that Windows Server 2008 running WebSphere 7 handles 37% more load than IBM WebSphere 7 running on POWER6.

Please visit www.websphereloveswindows.com to read more about these results and check out the .NET StockTrader downloads. We think the .NET StockTrader is a GREAT example of how small bits of innovation can have BIG impact. Don’t take our word for it – these sample applications and guidelines are available to anyone. Instructions on how to replicate the testing we conducted are also available here, and I strongly encourage customers, and all third parties, to conduct tests for themselves. Let us know what you think.

Good stuff. I suspect the number one response to this will be, what about Linux? Apache? etc. Expect more in the future...

GoDaddy.com Launches New Hosted Microsoft Exchange

pthurrott — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:22:46 GMT

Here we go: This is, I believe, the first reasonably priced hosted Exchange service. Here’s the official press release:

GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain registrar and largest hosting provider in North America, and Microsoft Corp. today announced that GoDaddy.com is delivering mobile and group e-mail plans with Microsoft Outlook, powered by Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) improve worker productivity and communications regardless of physical location. The new e-mail plans from GoDaddy.com, including Personal Outlook, Outlook with Mobile, and Group Outlook with Mobile, give SMBs the ability to manage all of their online services from one place.

"We have many customers who currently use Microsoft Office Outlook for their e-mail. It was only natural that we expanded our offerings to include mobile and group e-mail plans with Microsoft Outlook," said GoDaddy.com CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. "Our goal is to be a one-stop shop for every customer. Business owners who want the advantage of Microsoft Outlook e-mail plans can rely on us, without worrying about system maintenance."

GoDaddy.com's e-mail plans allow small business owners to focus on improving the productivity of their business, instead of dealing with IT issues, by offering the following benefits:

-- On-the-go access to calendar, address books, tasks and e-mail on virtually any device, including the Web and mobile devices, as well as computers in the office or at home

-- Better collaboration through appointment scheduling, assigning tasks, delegating access to e-mail and a common address book - all core features of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and Microsoft Entourage 2008

-- No upfront hardware and software costs for these services, which often can prevent SMBs from realizing the benefits of corporate-grade IT services and create challenges associated with help desk support and ongoing system maintenance

"This announcement with GoDaddy.com represents an exciting opportunity for business owners to leverage the resources of two industry leaders who understand the needs of businesses and their employees," said John Zanni, general manager of Worldwide Hosting at Microsoft. "By expanding our existing partnership, GoDaddy.com is now providing its customers with the benefits of mobile e-mail and Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, in addition to the reliable infrastructure and support that has made GoDaddy.com one of the top hosting services providers worldwide."

Pricing is $9.99 a month for a single account with 2 GB of storage, or $56.99 for up to five accounts with a total of 20 GB of storage.