Microsoft Loosens Virtualization Limits

• By theWHIR.com , August 21, 2008

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By David Hamilton, theWHIR.com

August 21, 2008 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Microsoft (microsoft.com) has announced a new licensing policy for virtualization product Hyper-V, loosening restrictions on customers wishing to develop more dynamic datacenters and enterprise IT systems with its virtualization software, which separates a server into multiple virtual machines able to run different applications and operating systems. According to an announcement by Microsoft this week, customers can now move 41 Microsoft server applications between servers on a single server farm without being charged extra licensing fees beginning September 1, 2008, waiving its previous, 90-day reassignment rule. IT and communications reseach firm IDC vice president of system software research Al Gillen said server virtualization is becoming more mature and the new licencing maneuver is giving Hyper-V the flexibility needed to continue its growth. "As IT professionals update their standard server images for new installations, they are increasingly integrating virtualization to simplify deployments, to increase the system flexibility, boost usage rates and increase portability of the applications," Gillen said in a statement. "With this latest update to its licensing rules, Microsoft is knocking down barriers to virtualized deployments, which should help further accelerate the adoption rates."  Under the new licencing, customers will be able to move many Microsoft applications freely between servers including SQL Server 2008 Enterprise edition, Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Standard and Enterprise editions and Office SharePoint Server 2007. For many customers, this change will likely reduce the number of licenses needed by many customers.

However, there has been significant online discussion about the implications, Burton Group (burtongroup.com) senior analyst Chris Wolf wrote in his blog that the new licencing policy will have little effect on businesses, noting that many IT shops had simply ignored the 90 day license transfer restriction.

Nonetheless, Parallels senior vice president Kurt Daniel told InfoWorld (infoworld.com) that by clearly defining the limits of its virtualization services, Microsoft is doing its customers a good service. "Clarification from software vendors on licensing for virtual environments has been sparse, creating confusion among users," said Daniel. "Microsoft is now addressing this, and though it is currently limited to a selection of applications, it's a good step forward."http://weblog.infoworld.com/virtualization/archives/2008/08/microsoft_makes_2.html

Many hosting providers have adopted Hyper-V starting with Layered Tech (layeredtech.com) in late June followed by SoftLayer (softlayer.com), MaximumASP (maximumasp.com) and PacHosting (pachosting.com).

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