Changes to Server Virtualization Roadmap

A second waypoint has been added in Microsoft’s route toward a Windows Server product with built-in virtualization capabilities. One more stand-alone server version, in the second half of 2006, will follow Virtual Server 2005 R2, which came out in late 2005. After that, an entirely new virtualization architecture will be integrated into Windows Server after “Longhorn” Server (which is the next major release, due in 2007). All future Microsoft server virtualization technology will exploit upcoming virtualization support in AMD and Intel chipsets, and the roadmap illustrates how Microsoft thinks its customers will soon consider server virtualization a must-have OS feature.

This article deals with server-side virtualization only, but Microsoft also has a client OS virtualization product (Virtual PC) and a corresponding roadmap for it. Even though Microsoft’s server and client virtualization technologies are similar, functional requirements and the rationale for using each are significantly different. (For information on Virtual PC, see “First Virtual PC Product Released” on page 11 of the Dec. 2003 Update.)