Microsoft licensing urges users to get virtual now
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New licensing and product support from Microsoft are aimed at encouraging IT departments to virtualise their systems and create dynamic data centres and enterprise applications.
As of 1 September you will be able to move any of 41 Microsoft server applications between servers within a server farm as often as necessary, without paying additional licensing fees under the old 90-day reassignment rule.
Servers involved include Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise edition, Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Standard and Enterprise editions, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Enterprise and Professional editions, Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Microsoft System Center products.
“Businesses are taking steps to make their IT operations more dynamic and are delving into virtualisation as a cornerstone strategy,” explains Zane Adam, senior director of integrated virtualisation in the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft.
“Microsoft recognises this and is innovating its licensing policies, product support and a wide range of IT solutions to help customers get virtual now.”
Beyond that, the software giant is also beginning a worldwide series of ‘Get Virtual Now’ events to showcase its virtualisation products and partner solutions.
The goal, it says, is to reach more than 250,000 IT professionals through a series of more than 100 events, starting in South Africa and kicking off on September 8 with a US ‘Get Virtual Now’ event – featuring Microsoft executives Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools Business, Kevin Turner, COO, and Bob Kelly, corporate vice president of infrastructure server marketing.
More than 40 sponsoring partners will be in attendance, including Platinum sponsors Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Citrix Systems, Compellent Technologies, Dell, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, IBM, Intel, Juniper Networks, NetApp, Novell and Sun Microsystems.
