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The potential for information technology
to drive business success has never been greater. Advances in software, devices, and
networks are transforming the way companies streamline communications, automate processes,
and enable employees to access the information and capabilities they need to respond
to new opportunities.
At the same time, the complexity
of IT has never been higher. Business success increasingly depends on providing mobile
employees with easy access to corporate computing resources. People who use instant
messaging, social networking sites, and other relatively new communications technologies
at home expect to use similar tools at work.
The result is a growing number of
contradictory requirements: ease of access vs. security and compliance; performance
vs. cost; innovation and agility vs. reliability and continuity. For IT professionals,
the real challenge is resolving the tension inherent in trying to create an infrastructure
that provides both the flexibility to enable employees to drive business success and
the control to protect corporate resources, maintain compliance, and provide continuity.
Helping companies find the right
balance is one of Microsoft's most important priorities. To do that, we are focused
on technology innovation that will enable companies to build systems that have the
flexibility and intelligence to automatically adjust to changing business conditions
by aligning computing resources with strategic objectives. This is a vision we call
Dynamic IT. Virtualization technologies that provide powerful new tools for creating
more efficient, flexible, and cost effective IT systems will provide a critical foundation
for bringing this new vision to life.
In previous executive emails, Bill
Gates and Steve Ballmer discussed advances that are revolutionizing communications,
improving productivity, and transforming the way companies use information. Because
you are a subscriber to executive emails from Microsoft, I want to share my thoughts
about virtualization with you. As senior vice president of Microsoft's Server and
Tools Business, I know that virtualization is helping IT departments reduce costs
and improve business continuity and compliance, and I believe that over the long term,
it will have a significant impact on the way businesses run IT. It is still early
for this important technology--ultimately, virtualization will play an important role
in improving business agility by making IT systems more flexible and more responsive
to changing business needs.
Understanding Virtualization
Virtualization is an approach to
deploying computing resources that isolates different layers--hardware, software,
data, networks, storage--from each other. Typically today, an operating system is
installed directly onto a computer's hardware. Applications are installed directly
onto the operating system. The interface is presented through a display connected
directly to the local machine. Altering one layer often affects the others, making
changes difficult to implement.
By using software to isolate these
layers from each other, virtualization makes it easier to implement changes. The result
is simplified management, more efficient use of IT resources, and the flexibility
to provide the right computing resources, when and where they are needed.
There are different types of virtualization.
Machine virtualization uses software to create a virtual machine that emulates the
services and capabilities of the underlying hardware. This makes it possible to run
more than one operating system on a single machine. On servers, this approach is called
server virtualization; on end-user PCs, it is called desktop virtualization.
Application virtualization separates
the application from the operating system, reducing conflicts between applications,
which can simplify deployments and upgrades. Presentation virtualization enables an
application on a computer in one location to be controlled by a computer in another.
There is also storage virtualization,
which lets users access applications and data without having to worry about where
they are stored. And network virtualization allows remote users to tap into a company
network as if they were physically connected.
Virtualization is not new. IBM first
introduced virtual machine technology for mainframe computers in the early 1960s.
Microsoft Windows NT included a virtual DOS machine. Virtual PC was introduced by
Connectix in 1997 (Microsoft acquired Connectix in 2003). EMC's VMware introduced
its first product, VMware Workstation, in 1999. Softricity introduced SoftGrid, the
first application virtualization product, in 2001 (Microsoft acquired Softricity in
2006).
Currently, industry analysts estimate
that fewer than 10 percent of servers are virtualized, despite the fact that virtualization
has been around for many years. But its significance is growing as companies have
introduced products that target today's high-volume, low-cost hardware. Now, more
and more companies are using server virtualization to save money by consolidating
the workload of several servers onto a single machine.
Virtualization: A Foundation
for Dynamic IT
As important as server virtualization
can be in reducing costs, saving money is just the beginning of the value that virtualization
offers. At Microsoft, we believe that virtualization will play a significant role
in enabling companies to create IT systems that are not only highly efficient, but
that have the self-awareness to adapt automatically as business conditions change.
By separating the layers of the
computing stack, a virtualized IT environment makes it possible to quickly deploy
new capabilities without having to configure components. In a virtualized environment,
testing requirements and application compatibility issues are reduced, processes are
easier to automate, and disaster recovery is easier to implement.
In the data center, virtualization
not only supports server consolidation, but it enables workloads to be added and moved
automatically to precisely match real-time computing needs as demand changes. This
provides greater agility, better business continuity, and more efficient use of resources.
On the desktop, application virtualization
reduces management costs. And when the operating system, applications, data, and user
preferences are all virtualized, it makes it possible for users to access the computing
resources they need anywhere, from any machine. The result is tremendous flexibility
for employees and greater efficiency and agility for IT departments.
Microsoft Virtualization Products
and Solutions for Dynamic IT
While each layer of virtualization
delivers an important set of benefits, the real power of virtualization comes when
companies implement an integrated virtualization strategy that extends across their
IT infrastructure. Today, Microsoft provides a comprehensive set of virtualization
products, tools, and services that span from the datacenter to the desktop:
Server Virtualization: With Microsoft
Windows Server 2008, server virtualization will be available as part of the operating
system with the new "Hyper-V" feature. Microsoft's design approach improves
virtualization efficiency and delivers better performance. (This technology is also
available separately through Microsoft Hyper-V Server.) Hyper-V technology--as
well as the currently available Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2--supports
server consolidation, re-hosting of legacy operating systems and applications on new
hardware, and disaster recovery based on application portability across hardware platforms.
Application Virtualization: Microsoft
SoftGrid Application Virtualization transforms applications into centrally-managed
virtual services that are streamed to desktops, servers, and laptops when and where
they are needed. SoftGrid dramatically accelerates application deployment, upgrades,
and patching by simplifying the application management lifecycle.
Presentation Virtualization: With Microsoft
Windows Server Terminal Services, a Windows desktop application can run on a shared
server machine and present its user interface on a remote system, such as a desktop
computer or thin client.
Desktop Virtualization: Microsoft
Virtual PC runs applications that are not compatible with the operating system
on a desktop PC by supporting multiple operating systems on a single machine. It also
accelerates testing and development of new software and systems. In addition, with
the Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop license for hosted desktop
architectures (also known "virtualized desktop infrastructures"), an entire desktop
can be hosted on a server and remotely delivered to another desktop computer.
Our goal is to provide companies
with the underlying technology they need to implement a flexible infrastructure that
delivers the capabilities that employees and customers need, when and where they need
them.
The Importance of Integrated
Management
In a virtualized environment, a
comprehensive management approach that provides the ability to monitor and track physical
and virtual resources becomes critical. To achieve Dynamic IT, management solutions
must also provide the foundation for automating the allocation of resources as business
conditions change. It is the combination of virtualization technologies running across
computing layers and orchestrated by a single set of management tools that provides
the foundation for Dynamic IT.
Microsoft System
Center delivers management software that enables IT professionals to manage all
of their computing resources--both virtual and physical. System Center provides provisioning,
monitoring, and back-up tools for virtual and physical environments across desktops
and servers, and operating systems and applications. System Center enables companies
to capture information about their infrastructure, policies, processes, and best practices
so they can automate operations, reduce costs, and improve application availability.
Dynamic IT from the Server to
the Desktop
Although virtualization has been
around for more than four decades, the software industry is just beginning to understand
the full implications of this important technology. Server virtualization to consolidate
multiple machines into a single server is the most common form of virtualization in
use today but it is still very early in the adoption cycle. At Microsoft, we believe
that in the coming years, sever virtualization will become ubiquitous. Adoption of
other forms of virtualization is just beginning, too, and their potential value remains
largely untapped.
To help make this valuable technology
more accessible, Microsoft is delivering innovations that make virtualization more
affordable and less complex. We also are actively working with industry partners to
develop new products and services that will unlock the power of virtualization for
companies of all sizes.
Already, virtualization products
from Microsoft and our partners are helping companies match computing capabilities
to business needs. Imagine, for example, if your employees could access their personalized
desktop, with all of their settings and preferences intact, on any machine, from any
location. Or if workloads running on the servers in your data center automatically
redeployed to respond to a sudden surge in demand for a specific capability. Or if
your entire infrastructure could restore itself instantly following a catastrophic
power outage.
Today, using existing Microsoft
technologies, these Dynamic IT scenarios are already possible. Tomorrow, they will
be the norm as we continue to bring new innovations in virtualization and systems
management to market that help companies build truly dynamic infrastructures, from
the server to the desktop.
Bob Muglia
