Defined by Microsoft as a “bare metal hypervisor-based server virtualization product,” the availability of Hyper-V Server 2008 was announced by Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer during his keynote address at a TechNet Server and Tools event in London, today, October 1. Delivered as a free download, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 is yet another move from the Redmond company to democratize virtualization technology. In this regard, Microsoft is touting the solution's capabilities to deal with both Windows and Linux workloads, while permitting customers to cut down on the costs associated with the physical server’s infrastructure.

 

Hyper-V Server 2008 is a product based on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. Released to manufacturing in June 2008, the hypervisor component of Windows Server 2008 is now also available as a standalone product. According to Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 brings to the table the Windows Hypervisor, Windows Server driver model and virtualization components.

 

In this regard, Microsoft revealed that, “Hyper-V is the hypervisor-based virtualization feature of Windows Server 2008. Microsoft Hyper-V Server is the hypervisor-based server virtualization product that allows customers to consolidate workloads onto a single physical server.” At the time of writing this, the actual download link for Hyper-V Server 2008 was not live yet, even with Microsoft indicating October 1 as the final release of the gold version of the hypervisor.

 

“Customers have been telling us that virtualization is a top priority, but they continue to face multiple barriers to adoption, such as costs, complex tools and limited certified virtualization professionals. In response, Microsoft is breaking down these barriers through new training programs and services, interoperability, centralized management tools, and a broad partner ecosystem built around the Windows hypervisor to help make virtualization ubiquitous. Microsoft’s new virtualization products will help customers get virtual and manage their virtual and physical assets across datacenters and desktops,” revealed Zane Adam, senior director of virtualization strategy at Microsoft.

 

Hyper-V Server 2008 will be made available for download here.