With all the news around Windows Server 2008 R2 reaching the RTM milestone, you may be thinking about reasons to upgrade, and whether 2008 or R2 is right for your near-term migrations.

Our partner Marathon Technolgies has an upcoming webinar lined up for tomorrow, July 30, in which David Hanna, Infrastructure Architect at Microsoft, will walk through the new Web tools, virtualization technologies, security enhancements, and management utilities available in Windows Server 2008, and will also cover the top 5 reasons to upgrade to R2.

Then Michael Bilancieri, Senior Director of Products at Marathon, will take a look at how to extend the high availability features of Windows Server 2008 to fault tolerant protection with Marathon’s everRun software.

For more info or to register for the webinar, click here: http://www.marathontechnologies.com/events_webinars.html

The importance of having a scalable and cost efficient management solution has never been more critical than in today’s economic and IT environments and our customer’s desire to take advantage of this value is evident through the growth of the Microsoft systems management business.  We’ve been fortunate to have a strong leader, Brad Anderson, over this business in our Management and Services Division (MSD) who understands customer needs and technologies. 

Today we’ve announced internally that Brad has been promoted to corporate vice president and we wanted to share that news with those of you that have worked with or met him over the years.  Congratulations Brad!

We have received many requests from our customers and partners on when they will be able to get their hands on RTM code of Windows Server 2008 R2. As the Windows Server Operations Manager, I wanted to provide a broad timeline on when different groups of customers and partners will get the final RTM code.

For Partners & OEMs:

ISV (Independent software vendor) and IHV (Independent hardware vendor) partners will be able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM from MSDN starting on August 14th.  MSDN will post in English, French, German, Japanese, Italian, and Spanish on August 14^th and will roll out the remaining languages starting August 21^st.

Microsoft Partner Program Gold/Certified Members will be able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM through the Microsoft Partner Program (MPP) Portal on August 19^th.

Microsoft Action Pack Subscribers will be able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM starting August 23rd.

OEMs will receive Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM in English and all Language Packs on July 29^th.  The remaining languages will be available around August 11^th.

For Volume Licensing Customers:

If you are a Volume License (VL) customer with an existing Software Assurance (SA) license, you will be able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM on August 19^th via the Volume License Service Center (VLSC).

Volume License customers without a SA license will be able to purchase Windows Server 2008 R2 through Volume Licensing on September 1^st.

IT Professionals:

IT Professionals with TechNet Subscriptions will be able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM in English, French, German, Japanese, Italian, and Spanish on August 14^th and all remaining languages beginning August 21^st.

Developers:

Developers with MSDN Subscriptions will be able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM in English, French, German, Japanese, Italian, and Spanish on August 14^th and all remaining languages starting August 21^st.

For Technical Enthusiasts:

Starting on August 20, you can download the 180 day evaluation version of Windows Server 2008 R2 from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/try-it.aspx

Additionally, Windows Server 2008 R2 will be available in the retail channel on September 14^th.

Thanks,

Crissy House

Product Manager - Windows Server Marketing

The acronym stands for Release to Manufacturing, and it means this latest release of Windows Server 2008 R2 is now blessed by engineering as ready for the manufacturing process. We're talking final code. Sun shining, birds singing, children dancing in the streets.

With evaluation software available for download in the first half of August and the full product available to customers with Software Assurance in the second half of August, RTM is more than just an engineering milestone. Occurring in lock-step with the release of the Windows 7 RTM, these two platforms are now ready for our partners to start testing and installing on their hardware. And that lock-step isn't a coincidence, it's a design goal.

Customers using Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 in their enterprises has been Microsoft's intent from the first day programmers touched fingers to keyboards. Let's look at the highlights:

HAPPY ADMINISTRATORS

It's Christmas for server and desktop administrators with Windows Server 2008 R2's updated management tools, including:

• Hyper-V and Live Migration - still the big stars. R2's Hyper-V enables a complete server virtualization solution available out-of-the-box. Live Migration allows server administrators to migrate VMs between physical machines with no perceived downtime for current server connections and work streams. That means a more dynamic datacenter and more agility in meeting new business needs For more information on Hyper-V in R2, check out today's in-depth post on the Virtualization Team blog.
• File Classification Infrastructure - FCI lets you manage your data based on its characteristics, including things like file type, user credentials and even content. Based on this kind of criteria, FCI can assign data different access restrictions, store it in different locations or simply push it into an entirely customized lifecycle scheme - all done automatically via policy. For me, this is one of the most exciting new features in R2.
• Active Directory and Pervasive PowerShell - 240 new PowerShell cmdlets and several management consoles (including a new Active Directory interface) have been built on top of PowerShell. Active Directory has also been enhanced with the Active Directory Recycle Bin as well as AD Group Policy objects that give desktop administrators deeper capabilities when it comes to managing Windows 7 clients.
• IIS 7.5 - The latest edition of Internet Information Server also sports updated management tools as well as application serving capabilities that now including support for PHP and .NET on Server Core installations.
• Server Scalability - Not only is R2 Microsoft's first 64-bit-only operating system, it also supports up to 256 logical processors in a single server as well as all the latest CPU technologies. And, R2 has support for advanced storage technologies, including SAN management and solid state hardware.

HAPPY USERS

I'll leave it to the Windows 7 team to evangelize the many advantages that Windows 7 has as a standalone operating system (click here for the Windows 7 RTM announcement). But we server guys love it because combined with Windows Server 2008 R2 we can provide features I've never seen before in another client-server platform.

• DirectAccess, for example, provides secure, always-on access to corporate networks no matter from what network a client might be connecting. Better yet, it provides a two-way relationship allowing desktop admins to manage clients the same way whether they're local or remote.
• BranchCache allows users in remote offices to cache corpnet data locally, providing a better work experience for remote workers while simultaneously lowering expensive WAN bandwidth costs.
• Remote Desktop and Applications - Windows Server 2008's Terminal Services has now evolved into R2's Remote Desktop Services, and it integrates so tightly with Windows 7 that administrators will be able to roll out virtualized applications and even entire desktop environments without users being able to tell that these tools aren't running locally. It's fast and can even be managed via policy. Very cool stuff.

LOWER BUDGETS

Power efficiency and power management were priorities for R2.  The power efficiency improvements help you save power automatically - without additional steps or configuration.  An improved processor power management engine, storage power management improvements, tick skipping, core parking, and timer coalescing all contribute to improved power efficiency.

While licensing topics are a bit arcane, those of you already running Windows Server 2008 should know that you don't need new Client Access Licenses (CALs) when updating to Windows Server 2008 R2, which helps make for a cost-effective upgrade.

I'm out of space and have only scratched the surface of what you'll find in R2. You can follow the buzz about R2 and Windows 7 on Twitter via the #Windows hashtag.

 For those evaluating the software for near-term deployment, make sure to visit the Windows Server 2008 R2 Resource Center, our TechNet Resource Center as well and also our Application Compatibility page. And as always, send us your feedback when you're testing the software. Happy testing,

--Oliver Rist

Technical Product Manager

Windows Server Marketing

Last week, I attended the Worldwide Partner Conference and I came away with a few overall impressions.  First, I enjoyed spending significant face-to-face time with our friends in the industry who have continued to drive success during difficult economic times.  Second, it’s incredible to see how the market for Infrastructure solutions continues to rapidly evolve.  I hope at WPC partners were able to see an unprecedented wave of Microsoft innovation that will transform the way customers can drive their business.  Third, I hope our channel partners took away that partners have been and will continue to be critical to Microsoft’s Core Infrastructure strategy.

I’ve also been approached this week with a number of questions and wanted to share a few of them with you:

Q: You’re telling me to make a bigger investment in core infrastructure, but how do I win in this down economy?

A:   I don’t want to overstate this, but I do believe based on recent research there are good opportunities to solidify and grow share in this current economic climate.  Many leading analysts believe that while some customers are deferring IT investments, demand for server infrastructure will continue to improve in the second half of the year as customers begin to rebuild their IT capabilities in advance of a meaningful economic recovery in 2010. In addition, a recent IDC study shows partners who bet heavily on Microsoft find greater success.  Partners in this study with 2 or more Microsoft Competencies reported 68% larger deal sizes than their peers and 28% more revenue per employee. That’s clear evidence that partners can invest to win both share and revenue!

Q: How mature is the Microsoft technology stack?  What’s next on the roadmap?

A:  Our server infrastructure solutions are very mature. For some time now we have been working towards a vision called Dynamic IT, where we seek to help customers build increasingly integrated and dynamic systems that will improve business success. Coupled with that, we designed the Core Infra optimization model to help customers evaluate their IT needs, optimize current systems and design a path toward a more dynamic environment. One thing we’ve learned along the way is IT still has too many manual processes.  So we continue to make many investments to help customers move to an increasingly automated and dynamic infrastructure.  Our next step is to help IT change the way infrastructure services are delivered to users. Our goal?  Helping IT become more of a ‘pool of resources’ for customers – either delivering impactful solutions on-premise or moving some of them to the cloud.

Q: We loved to see the SMB customer example in your keynote.  What are you doing for SMB?

A: Over the years, we have seen varying levels of Microsoft marketing focus on SMB, but we in Server and Tools have remained committed to building great software for small and medium businesses (whether that be our Windows Server offerings or broader solutions like Windows Small Business Server or Windows Essential Business Server).  We plan to increase our SMB marketing emphasis in FY10 by partnering with Birger Steen, the new SMB leader for SMS&P.  In the meantime, we encourage you to check out the services rebate for SMBs (www.serveroffer.com) and to leverage other helpful marketing materials we’ll be publishing for FY10.

Q: What’s happening with the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Launch?

A: We are still working out details for the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 launches and we will soon communicate more about how to get connected.  We know this is important for you to understand and we believe there will be some amazing opportunities for you as partners to help customers breakthrough in areas like virtualization and network access and branch computing.   Take the time in the coming months to learn more about Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

In conclusion, I want to reiterate partners are core to our strategy and we’re eager to help you win server infrastructure opportunities.  I invite you to find out more about how to build or grow an infrastructure business at http://www.infrastructurepracticebuilder.com/  this is also where you’ll find pointers to marketing materials like the widgets I showed during my keynote session at WPC.

It’s been a great week and I appreciate all the time we got to spend together.  Thanks for your continued support and here’s to a great FY10 selling year! 

Bob