Microsoft Announces Vision and Strategy to Accelerate Virtualization Adoption

Company announces acquisition of Calista Technologies, expanded alliance with
Citrix Systems and initiatives to enable virtualization from the desktop to
the datacenter.

REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. today
articulated an expanded role for virtualization as a key enabler of its
Dynamic IT vision and outlined a companywide strategy to help accelerate the
broad adoption of virtualization. To help drive its strategy, the company also
announced the acquisition of Calista Technologies Inc. to improve the end-user
experience for virtualized desktops and applications; an expanded alliance
with Citrix Systems Inc. in the areas of client and server virtualization;
more flexible licensing options for virtualization using Windows Vista; and
new tools that provide best practices to deploy Microsoft virtualization
software.
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"Very few customers are able to reap the benefits of virtualization
today," said Bob Muglia, senior vice present of the Server and Tools Business
at Microsoft. "We estimate that less than 5 percent of companies are utilizing
virtualization technology because it is simply too cost-prohibitive and
complex. We believe Microsoft's comprehensive approach -- from desktop to
datacenter -- is unique to the industry by delivering solutions that address
virtualization at the hardware, application and management levels. Our
approach is not only one of the most comprehensive in the market today, but we
believe it is also one of the most economical. This combination brings a big
strategic advantage and cost savings to customers."
Today in an e-mail message to 300,000 customers and partners, and at the
company's Virtualization Deployment Summit, Muglia and other executives
expanded on these comments and discussed the challenges facing
businesses -- from the high costs and complexity associated with managing
today's IT environments to space constraints and the ability to get the most
out of existing IT investments. Microsoft also articulated how its strategy
and investments in the area of virtualization are a key part of the company's
overall vision and long-term technology strategy for IT professionals and
developers. This vision, called Dynamic IT, is aimed at delivering the right
computing resources to people virtually anytime and anywhere, and creating an
IT environment that is more efficient, flexible and cost-effective. With
virtualization technology as a key driver of its Dynamic IT vision, Microsoft
stressed the importance of the technology to its customers, reiterated its
commitment in this area and outlined these areas of investments:
-- Flexible client and server solutions
-- Integrated management solutions
-- Accelerated broad customer adoption

Flexible Client and Server Solutions
Microsoft's strategy for client and server virtualization is to provide
the best value in the industry with a complete set of virtualization solutions
from the desktop to the datacenter. For example, customers can virtualize
nearly all components of their desktop -- including operating system,
applications, data and preferences -- and make them accessible from virtually
anywhere and on virtually any machine. The result is tremendous flexibility
for users, combined with new levels of efficiency and agility for IT
departments. The following announcements were made today in support of this
strategy:
-- Acquisition of Calista Technologies. Microsoft has completed the
acquisition of Calista Technologies, a leading provider of graphics
technologies for next-generation desktop and presentation
virtualization solutions. Calista software improves the user experience
of 3-D and multimedia delivery for Microsoft multimedia applications,
virtualized desktop deployments, and server-hosted virtualized desktops
or applications using Windows Server Terminal Services. The addition of
Calista's technology to future Microsoft presentation and desktop
virtualization products will enable remote workers to receive a
full-fidelity Windows desktop experience without the need for high-end
desktop hardware, while enabling software vendors to deliver additional
capabilities. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Calista
Technologies, based in San Jose, Calif., is now a wholly owned
subsidiary of Microsoft.

-- Windows Optimized Desktop solutions. Microsoft introduced solutions
that help make overall desktop management, user migration, and change
management more efficient and flexible so customers can get the
applications and data they need. Customers can use a range of Microsoft
products, such as Windows Vista, the Microsoft Desktop Optimization
Pack, Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop and Terminal
Services in Microsoft Windows Server 2008, to meet the needs of their
unique client computing scenarios. More information is available at
http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization.

Integrated Management Solutions for Virtualization
In IT departments, virtualization software is transforming individual
servers into dynamic datacenters where applications are added in real time,
enabling much greater flexibility and more efficient use of resources.
Microsoft offers infrastructure virtualization software as part of the Windows
platform, such as Hyper-V and Terminal Services available within Windows
Server 2008, along with a comprehensive management platform, such as Microsoft
System Center, to manage both virtual and physical infrastructure and
applications. Microsoft delivers a simple, integrated management solution to
manage across customers' infrastructure: from the physical to the virtual;
from the hardware to the application and services. The following announcement
was also made today:
-- Hypervisor and management interoperability with Citrix. Citrix is
developing a software tool that will allow customers to easily transfer
virtual machines between Citrix XenServer and Windows Server 2008
Hyper-V to help ensure greater interoperability for customers. A test
version of the tool will be available in the second quarter, and a
final version will be available with the release of Hyper-V. More
details on this and other areas in which Microsoft and Citrix have
expanded their alliance are available at
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass.

"We plan to transition to the next generation of Microsoft's server
virtualization and virtualization management technologies later this year,"
said Chris Steffen, principal technical architect for Kroll Factual Data.
"Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V will provide superior hardware utilization
and help us create a more flexible IT infrastructure, while the next version
of System Center Virtual Machine Manager will maximize the way we use and
control those resources. We're hoping that with both products we'll be able to
increase the production-level virtual machines on our physical machines by at
least 20 percent."
Accelerated Broad Customer Adoption
Virtualization has been around for more than four decades, but in many
ways customers are just beginning to understand the full implications as a way
to provision and manage computing resources. Greater economic and
infrastructure advantages, as well as integrated tools to manage new
configurations, are required to broaden the customer adoption of
virtualization software. Microsoft is focused on a range of initiatives to
help customers accelerate the adoption of virtualization to build a Dynamic IT
environment. The following announcements were made to further accelerate the
adoption of server and client virtualization:
-- Desktop virtualization alliance with Citrix. Microsoft and Citrix will
co-market a broad portfolio of new client computing offerings so that
customers have simple, flexible and low-cost client computing options.
These offerings will be based on Windows Server 2008 and Windows
Optimized Desktop solutions, extended with Citrix's XenDesktop and
Presentation Server products and managed by System Center. Microsoft
and Citrix will work together to help ensure the Citrix XenDesktop
connection broker works well with Windows Optimized Desktop solutions.
More details on this and other areas in which Microsoft and Citrix have
expanded their alliance are available at
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass.

-- New Microsoft Virtualization Solution Accelerators. To help customers
evaluate, plan, secure and deploy Microsoft virtualization technologies
across desktops and datacenters, Microsoft introduced four new
Virtualization Solution Accelerators that will be available with the
Windows Server 2008 launch in February. This set of free guidance
resources and tools can help customers effectively plan and deploy
virtualization technologies, including Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V,
Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services and Microsoft Application
Virtualization. Details can be found at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/solutionaccelerators.

-- Increased licensing flexibility with Windows Vista. For businesses,
Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop provides unique licensing
and flexibility to run Windows in virtual machines on servers and
access them from either PCs or thin clients. The annual subscription to
Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop is now an estimated retail
price of $23 per desktop for rich clients covered by Software Assurance
for Windows Client. For consumers, Windows Vista Home Basic and Windows
Vista Home Premium are now licensed for use in a virtual machine
environment, and the updated end-user license agreement is available at
http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/default.aspx.

-- Microsoft Office system support for Microsoft Application
Virtualization. Microsoft announced today that the 2003 and 2007
versions of the Microsoft Office system are supported when running in
both Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 and SoftGrid Application
Virtualization 4.2. This support enables customers to run multiple
versions of Office on the same device side by side, easing and
accelerating the deployment of Office, reducing total cost of
ownership, and enhancing mobility and business continuity for millions
of information workers. Customers can learn more at
http://www.windowsvista.com/optimizeddesktop.

"This new set of initiatives sets Microsoft on a path designed to optimize
customers' virtualized datacenters and desktops," said Roger Kay, president
and founder of Endpoint Technologies Associates Inc. "Through integrated
systems management, a broad portfolio of Microsoft and partner applications
built on Windows Server 2008, a worldwide partner ecosystem to deliver
solutions, and tailored licensing provisions, the company aims to bring the
benefits of virtualization to mainstream customers. In particular, Microsoft's
work with Citrix to provide a flexible combination of rich desktop,
thin-client, and virtual desktop infrastructure will help customers satisfy a
range of distributed work-force requirements."
The Microsoft Virtualization Deployment Summit is a two-day, private
technical conference of 300 Microsoft customers and partners that are early
adopters of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and the next version of System Center
Virtual Machine Manager. More information on today's announcements, including
Muglia's executive e-mail message and the keynote address from Microsoft
Virtualization Deployment Summit, can be found at
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass. More information about Microsoft
virtualization technologies and solutions can be found at
http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their
full potential.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.

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