Update to Enhance Virtual Desktops

The first service pack for Windows Server 2008 R2 will deliver two features designed to improve virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI): Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX. These features will enable a Windows Server with the Hyper-V virtualization technology to host more virtual machines (VMs) running Windows 7 than currently, and those VMs will support high-quality graphic displays. However, Microsoft has not announced a release date for the service pack.

More VMs per Server, Better Display

In a VDI architecture, users’ desktops and applications run in VMs hosted on servers in a data center rather than locally on users’ PCs. A server hosts multiple VMs, each with its own instance of a Windows client OS (e.g., Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7), and each VM is accessed from a local device (typically a PC) by one user at a time. Hypervisor technology on each server isolates the VMs from one another, allowing them to share the server’s RAM, CPU, network card(s), and other resources without interfering with one another. Microsoft offers its hypervisor technology as part of Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2, as well as a free product, Hyper-V Server.