Microsoft is gearing up to detail more and more information related not only to Windows 7, the successor of Windows Vista, but also to the other Windows 7 cooking over in Redmond, namely the first minor evolution from Windows Server 2008. And while mum's no longer the word on Windows 7, even though all information released to the public is filtered drastically, the software company has just started to communicate the next iteration of Windows Server. If fact, only this week has Microsoft officially confirmed that Windows 7 Server, or Windows Server 7 is in fact nothing more than the internal codename for Windows Server 2008 R2. And in this context the official overview of Windows 7 Server is still quite far away, over two months, in November 2008.

Between 3 and 7 November 2008, the Microsoft Tech-Ed IT Professionals 2008 conference will take place in Barcelona, Spain. One of the sessions at the event will be "Windows Server 2008 R2 Overview." "This session will provide you an overview of the new technologies in Windows Server 2008 R2, the scenarios, features, benefits and the development philosophy behind the product. We will discuss new Management Technologies, Virtualization Enhancements, Scalability features and enabling the remote workforce," reads the description of the presentation.

Microsoft is in fact preparing to explain what exactly will R2 bring to the table on top of what is already available with the RTM/SP1 version, and why customers should embrace the release at such a short time following Windows Server 2008 going gold. The Redmond company will also offer an insight into the evolution of Active Directory, Power Management, and even Virtualization.

"Want to know what all the hype is about virtualization? Want to understand how customers are using the various virtualization solutions? Wondered how Microsoft's different Virtual endeavors integrate? This topic will focus on stories about how customers evaluated and selected Microsoft virtualization over competing technologies / vendors and why. The session will also provide insights into Microsoft's overall virtualization strategy covering Microsoft SoftGrid, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, Virtual Server 2005 R2 as well as Hyper-V," the company revealed via the description for the Virtualization 360 session.