I am glad to share that Windows Storage Server 2008 (WSS 2008) and the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.2 have been released to the Microsoft OEM partners.

This is the successor to Windows Storage Server 2003 (WSS 2003) and Windows Unified Data Storage Server 2003 (WUDSS 2003). I have been working closely with some of the OEM partners for the last few quarters and they will be announcing their Windows Storage Server 2008 appliances over the next several weeks.

In this release, a number of important improvements were introduced including (but not limited to):

• Benefits from using Windows Server 2008 as a platform, like the improvements in the TCP/IP stack, SMB2 protocol, Failover Clustering and Server Manager.
• New version of Single Instance Store (SIS) file-level deduplication, including support for up to 128 volumes, the ability to un-SIS and improved Failover Clustering support.
• New version of the Microsoft iSCSI Software target (3.2), including support for IPv6, updated VSS/VDS providers and improved Failover Cluster support

To learn more, please join the TechNet webcast “Introducing Windows Storage Server 2008” at http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032410705, live on May 7th at 8AM PST or on-demand shortly after that.

For additional information, check these web sites:

• Official product web site: http://www.microsoft.com/storageserver
• Details on Single Instance Storage (SIS): http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/WSS08/SIS.aspx 
• Details on the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.2: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/WSS08/iSCSI.aspx
• Windows Storage Server 2008 partners: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/wss08/partners.aspx
• Windows Server blog: http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/archive/2009/05/05/windows-storage-server-2008-is-here.aspx
• Windows Storage Server blog: http://blogs.technet.com/storageserver/archive/2009/05/06/announcing-windows-storage-server-2008.aspx
• Jason Buffington's blog: http://blogs.technet.com/jbuff/archive/2009/05/05/announcing-windows-storage-server-2008-waa-hoo.aspx