Microsoft Corp. today articulated an expanded role for virtualization as a key enabler of its Dynamic IT vision and outlined a companywide strategy to help accelerate the broad adoption of virtualization. To help drive its strategy, the company also announced the acquisition of Calista Technologies Inc. to improve the end-user experience for virtualized desktops and applications; an expanded alliance with Citrix Systems Inc. in the areas of client and server virtualization; more flexible licensing options for virtualization using Windows Vista; and new tools that provide best practices to deploy Microsoft virtualization software.

"Very few customers are able to reap the benefits of virtualization today," said Bob Muglia, senior vice present of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft. "We estimate that less than 5 percent of companies are utilizing virtualization technology because it is simply too cost-prohibitive and complex. We believe Microsoft's comprehensive approach -- from desktop to datacenter -- is unique to the industry by delivering solutions that address virtualization at the hardware, application and management levels. Our approach is not only one of the most comprehensive in the market today, but we believe it is also one of the most economical. This combination brings a big strategic advantage and cost savings to customers."

Today in an e-mail message to 300,000 customers and partners, and at the company's Virtualization Deployment Summit, Muglia and other executives expanded on these comments and discussed the challenges facing businesses -- from the high costs and complexity associated with managing today's IT environments to space constraints and the ability to get the most out of existing IT investments. Microsoft also articulated how its strategy and investments in the area of virtualization are a key part of the company's overall vision and long-term technology strategy for IT professionals and developers. This vision, called Dynamic IT, is aimed at delivering the right computing resources to people virtually anytime and anywhere, and creating an IT environment that is more efficient, flexible and cost-effective. Microsoft's strategy for client and server virtualization is to provide the best value in the industry with a complete set of virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter. For example, customers can virtualize nearly all components of their desktop -- including operating system, applications, data and preferences -- and make them accessible from virtually anywhere and on virtually any machine. The result is tremendous flexibility for users, combined with new levels of efficiency and agility for IT departments.

In IT departments, virtualization software is transforming individual servers into dynamic datacenters where applications are added in real time, enabling much greater flexibility and more efficient use of resources. Microsoft offers infrastructure virtualization software as part of the Windows platform, such as Hyper-V and Terminal Services available within Windows Server 2008, along with a comprehensive management platform, such as Microsoft System Center, to manage both virtual and physical infrastructure and applications. Microsoft delivers a simple, integrated management solution to manage across customers' infrastructure: from the physical to the virtual; from the hardware to the application and services.

"We plan to transition to the next generation of Microsoft's server virtualization and virtualization management technologies later this year," said Chris Steffen, principal technical architect for Kroll Factual Data. "Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V will provide superior hardware utilization and help us create a more flexible IT infrastructure, while the next version of System Center Virtual Machine Manager will maximize the way we use and control those resources. We're hoping that with both products we'll be able to increase the production-level virtual machines on our physical machines by at least 20 percent."