Microsoft Announces the Private Cloud Community Evaluation Program

Microsoft’s Private Cloud Community Evaluation Program is just a few days from start, with the debut planned for November 1, 2011, but customers can still sign-up. All they need to do is head over to this page on Microsoft Connect.

The Redmond company’s considerable Cloud investments continue to grow at an accelerated pace, and the software giant is ready to help customers move away from on-premises deployments and embrace the advantages of IT as a Service.

For those still reluctant to take on the Public Cloud, Microsoft is providing Private Clouds as stepping stones.

The combination of System Center 2012 and Windows Server Hyper-V adds up to a world class Private Cloud solution, reveals Garth Fort, general manager of the Management and Security Product Management Team.

And in order to help customers see the value that the System Center 2012 and Windows Server Hyper-V duo can offer them, Microsoft introduced the Private Cloud Community Evaluation Program (Private Cloud CEP).

“With our Private Cloud CEP, we will show you how and help you build your own Private Cloud infrastructure from scratch,” Fort notes.

“System Center 2012 combined with Windows Server Hyper-V helps you deliver flexible and cost effective private cloud infrastructure to your business units in a self-service model, while carrying forward your existing datacenter investments.”

Virtualization solutions and Private Clouds are the way to the Public Cloud, Microsoft has argued on many occasions.

And in this regard, the company’s System Center offerings, especially the upcoming 2012 version of the solutions, are designed with enabling customers to manage Private Clouds like never before.

“As a part of this program you will have clear learning themes that will help you all the way from creating your Private Cloud infrastructure to deploying and monitoring applications in a self-service model,” Fort added.

“This program will provide you an opportunity to evaluate the products, with guidance from the product teams and understand how System Center 2012 and Windows Server Hyper-V will really change the way you look at Private Cloud.”