Quoting from Tekrati:
According to Forrester Research, Microsoft’s Virtual Server 2005 offers a lower cost, Microsoft-centric alternative to VMware’s sophisticated server virtualization products, which help firms consolidate server hardware and ease some server administration tasks. However, the analysts caution clients to proceed with caution. Free research advisory brief.
Forrester says firms shouldn’t get suckered into a feature function or price shootout – the real contest here is to see which vendor’s product will integrate better with data center automation solutions that slash the costs of managing lots of OSes, whether they are virtual or physical.
Microsoft has shipped Virtual Server 2005, which lets firms consolidate multiple server instances–often called virtual machines (VMs)–on one server. Making servers virtual slashes hardware costs, eases administration tasks, and lets firms relocate servers without compatibility issues. Virtual Server also finally adds a prominent product to the Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI), Microsoft’s take on next generation data architecture, which Forrester calls Organic IT.
To get the final details on the launch of Virtual Server, Forrester spoke with Microsoft Group Product Manager Eric Berg. In order to compete with VMware’s market-leading server virtualization products, Virtual Server will cost less, be integrated with Microsoft management tools, and be the only Microsoft-supported virtualization product–but it won’t officially support VMs other than Windows, such as Linux.
Follow link below to access/register for Forrester’s top three recommendations to firms interested in the Microsoft technology, as well as additional background notes. The research advisory brief is free, as of this posting.
Read whole report here.