Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Is Finally Available

Microsoft released the Windows Server 2008 R2 and the System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 (SCVMM) to manufacturers. For those who can't wait that long, Microsoft is making the code available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers next week.
Windows Server 2008 R2 and SCVMM 2008 R2 are designed to work in synergy in data centers. SCVMM provides centralized deployment and management of multiple Hyper-V servers, including rival VMWare ESX Servers. In addition, SCVMM can provide performance and resource management, allowing administrators to provision Hyper-V servers based on work loads. Everything that administrators can do with Hyper-V can also be done in SCVMM.
Windows Server 2008 R2 offers live migration of virtual machines, virtual clustering of servers and power management. Microsoft also improved Hyper-V's performance for the RTM code. Redmond is putting lots of resources into virtualization with R2, and the improvements are dramatic. Market dominant VMWare has something to fear. Hyper-V, for example, supports more CPU cores, which means more logical 64-bit processors to handle enterprise workloads. A side effect of clustering provides migration of storage as well. You can move virtual machines between LUNs just like you files on network shares. The advantage of staying with the Microsoft virtualization stack is obvious. Microsoft's long dominance are giving customers that already familiar with the Microsoft server, a good reason to use one vendor to manage host and guest OSes in a virtual data center.
Microsoft is also offering Hyper Server R2 RTM for free. Yes, free. It's capable of clustering virtual machines, which means that you also get live migration for free. Virtualization of any guest OS is free to run on Hyper Server, which can also be managed by SCVMM.
Microsoft has created a new logo certification for power management. Power savings is a big deal in Windows Server 2008 R2. R2, for instance, can boot remotely from a SAN and even communicate with hot bus adapters and let them know to shut down LUNs that don't contain files or are not being used.