Microsoft is “All In” with the Cloud

Steve Ballmer made a speech yesterday at the University of Washington detailing Microsoft’s Cloud Computing Strategy.

At just over 55 minutes, Steve talked about how, today, Microsoft has about 70% of their developer type people that are focused on the cloud and cloud based or cloud inspired solutions, and that it will be up to 90% in a year. In other words Microsoft is focused heavily on the cloud and is revamping and betting (1:01:21) on making this for the company. This is a Big Shift for Microsoft to be able to handle these disruptions according to Ballmer. Microsoft is built now and prepared for these disruptions.

During the talk, Steve talked about how Virtualization as we see/use it today is really used to solve the older problems with innovations, but that in the future, the cloud is more than this. To really take advantage of advances in computing, we not only have to fix the problems that are there today (with the use of Virtualization and such), but innovate differently for the future to make leapfrog and enable new and exciting capabilities.

Virtualization Summit

I wanted to let you know about a very exciting event (or really series of events) that we are putting on. The Virtualization Summit has been designed to help people understand what their choices are for virtualization.

Whether you are interested in Desktop Virtualization Solutions, or how IT can use Microsoft Virtualization Solutions in the Datacenter, this will be a great series of events to attend.

Are you interested in VDI, do you think Microsoft doesn’t care about VDI? Think again, come and find out.

Please check out the details, and come enjoy the event!

SQL Server, a great workload for Hyper-V?

People ask me what are good candidates for Virtualization, and can Hpyer-V really run those heavy workloads. I tell them, that with Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, almost all workloads are candidates, and when you couple Hyper-V with the great management you get with System Center, you have a great infrastructure platform for virtualization.

Yesterday, Vipul Shah, a Senior Product Manager with the Virtualization Team, showed some proof to my statements when he guest posted on Virtualization Planet about how Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and System Center is a great platform for running SQL Server consolidated workloads. He pointed to a newly released video by Ted Kummert, Senior Vice President, Microsoft Business Platform Division that outlines how virtualization enables consolidation.

This is exciting as we ran some performance tests against a complex stock trading application using a machine with Second Level Address Translation (SLAT) and saw good performance throughout the tests. We recently discussed in the Best Practices for SQL Server Virtualization webcast (click here) and in the SQL Server Consolidation Guidance (click here) the results of those tests, and guidance on running SQL as a virtual machine.

Other Business Critical Applications like Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint are also fantastic workloads to be consolidated.

It is good to see this information getting out there. Thoughts?

Kenon

SCE 2010 RC Released – Mid Market Wonders

System Center Essentials is a Mid to Small Market integrated Management solution that combines Physical and Virtual systems Management along with Client Management. It is exciting that this release is coming as now smaller customers will realize a way to fully leverage their physical and virtual infrastructure and increase their efficiencies to provide their organizations top tier IT.

Check out this Video: Virtualization Features of SCE 2010 also, check out the cost. Yeah, I know this is for SCE2007, but still, customers can see tremendous value, and SCE 2010 will be a GREAT Value as well. Check out this whitepaper on licensing.

From the SCE PM

The System Center Essentials 2010 Release Candidate and is now available to the public for download. This was a huge milestone for the team as it brings together twenty-two months of planning and development to deliver a unified virtual and physical IT management solution for midsize businesses. With almost nine thousand customers registered for the public beta, we look forward to driving even more awareness with the release candidate. Here are the new features and functionality added for RC:

· Additional virtualization support: Pro tips integration, Live migration with clustering support, Jobs view

· Upgrade / Migration support: TAP customers running beta can upgrade to the RC; Customers running SCEv1 (including running VMM workgroup edition) will be able to upgrade to SCEv2 RTM; Disaster recovery and moving from to a new server while retaining data will be supported in SCEv2 Resource Kit.

· Licensing: New workflow for purchase from evaluation; SKUs are buildable with correct license terms.

· Agent deployment with WSUS: If a failure occurs deploying Operations Manager agent, SCE will attempt to deploy using WSUS infrastructure.

· Localization build & process complete: Completed full test pass on localized build; Localized SCE MP and integrated partner localized MPs into build process.

So, Check it out and enjoy!

Massive iSCSI IOPs for Hyper-V

Suzanne Morgan, a Senior Program Manager – Storage and File Systems at Microsoft is presenting a webcast today at 11 PST on some fantastic iSCSI performance numbers (Check out this blog for information on the webcast).

I don’t want to steal all the thunder from this webcast, but would like to share with you some exciting information. The webcast talks about both Windows Server 2008 R2 iSCSI performance numbers, but also Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V performance numbers.

What this graphic shows is that with Hyper-V using Intel VMDq and Microsoft VMQ, we are achieving 750,000+ IOPs, and achieve native throughput at 8k and above block sizes.

What does this mean? Well, if you are going to run, say, Microsoft Exchange in a VM hosted on iSCSI storage, you will be able to handle a tremendous amount of mailboxes even under a “heavy” profile.

Take a listen to the webcast and see where Windows Server 2008 R2 has gotten to.

4 Big Guns on a Conference Call Recap

Wow! the Microsoft/HP call/announcement went out and it was great to hear them on the call answering questions.

I think Mark Hurd said it best when someone asked isn’t this just the same old, same old? He said something to the fact that if this wasn’t big, you wouldn’t have gotten these people on the phone together. This announcement is going to change the way customers can reap the benefits of virtualization. It is going to be huge.

I wrote on it on the Windows Server 2008 R2 Experts Blogs today, so check it out. I think the two things to note for Virtualization are:

• HP and Microsoft will put together bundles that make virtualization easier for the masses
• Systems designed for Virtualization
• Management Integrations to make it fly
• Where we are going to take the cloud gives our customers endless possibilities

This is going to be fun.

4 Big Guns and a Conference Call

CNET Posted an article a little while ago that tomorrow morning, CEO Steve Ballmer, and HP Chairman and CEO Mark Hurd, along with the president of Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business, Bob Muglia, and HP’s executive vice president and general manager  of their Enterprise Servers and Networking, Enterprise Business, Dave Donatelli will be on a joint teleconference tomorrow morning.

That is a lot of firepower out there to take questions about “new, significant investments the two companies are making to help customers and partners prepare for the future of business computing”.

Should be an interesting day tomorrow.

I will comment more tomorrow.

Tech·Ed North America 2010 Call for Content invitation

TechEd North America 2010 is just around the corner (well in June). If you are interested in speaking at TechEd, and have an interesting topic you would like to discuss, please follow the instructions below for submitting content and if chosen, we would love to hear about it.

Tech·Ed North America 2010 Call for Content invitation

We have begun the planning for Tech·Ed North America 2010, which takes place in New Orleans from June 7-10, 2010, and the first step is to request Breakout Session topic ideas from product experts like yourself for the Virtualization track.

Virtualization Track (VIR)

This track will cover all aspects of Virtualization to address the current demands on IT Pros looking to virtualize their environment.  Understand the overall Microsoft Virtualization strategy and where the future of virtualization is heading: in the datacenter, from the client, all the way to the cloud.  Learn about Microsoft products in this space, including Windows Server Hyper-V, Microsoft Hyper-V Server, App-V, MED-V, System Center Suite of tools (including System Center Virtual Machine Manager and System Center Operations Manager), Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services), and our new Dynamic Datacenter Toolkit for Enterprises. Beyond just understanding the current product capabilities, the attendees will also learn about the future directions and plans, and what we think the market and the other platforms will do over the next few years.

Steps for Call for Content submissions:

1. Go to: https://northamerica.msteched.com/CFT
2. Enter RSVP Access Code : RSVP10-VIR
3. Complete all the fields and submit the topic/s you’re interested in presenting
4. When returning to the Call for Content site, use the e-mail alias and password you entered when creating your Call for Content profile to review or edit your submission, or to submit another topic.

Deadline for Submissions:  January 15, 2010

Breakout Sessions are the primary way Tech·Ed attendees receive Microsoft content. These sessions are lecture-style presentations held in rooms seating anywhere from 200-1,200 people. Breakouts are 75-minutes in length and speakers use PowerPoint slides and demos; leaving 10-15 minutes at the end to answer questions. These sessions are recorded and available at Tech·Ed Online to all paid attendees from the 10 Tech·Ed conferences held around the world during the 12 months following Tech·Ed North America.

Additional conference information

The following information will be helpful as you think about the session/s you are going to submit and, if selected, present at Tech·Ed.

Tech·Ed is Microsoft's premier global conference designed to provide developers and IT professionals with the technical education, product information and community resources they need to design, develop, manage, secure, and mobilize state-of-the-art software solutions for a connected enterprise. Content focuses on current and soon-to-release (before June 2011) Microsoft products, technologies and services.

At Tech·Ed North America 2009, 70 percent of Tech·Ed attendees were IT professionals with the majority being Infrastructure Managers (48%) and IT Mangers (28%). They were interested in the best ways to plan, design, deploy, manage and secure connected enterprise systems. The remaining 30% of attendees were developers -- programmers (41%), architects (28%), designers (20%), and developer managers (12%) -- who wanted to dive deeper into the latest enterprise development solutions using Microsoft's developer tools, frameworks, and platforms. 

Review and notification

· Session submissions are reviewed to determine which best meet the needs of the Tech·Ed audience, adhere to the Track framework and content focus, and fulfill the messaging requirements of the product groups. 

· Session selections will be made and you will be notified by e-mail in February 2010.

Thank you for your time. We look forward to seeing your Breakout Session ideas. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions about the submission process or would like to discuss topic ideas.

Blogging on Because it’s everybody’s business Site

IT isn't the easiest thing in the world, but it may be one of the most fun. It is amazing how folks see a challenge and then overcome it. Microsoft has created a place to help folks get through these challenges. Because it's everybody's business is your one stop shop for finding out about how we can help you face and surpass the challenges you come across everyday. It also shows how IT folks just like yourselves are becoming more efficient and saving money with Microsoft Technology. Why am I writing about it here? Well, they have asked me to be a Virtualization Expert on the site, blogging about the challenges customers face and how Microsoft Virtualization can help. I kicked off the blog with the following entry, and will continue to post on a regular basis.

Check it out.

Kenon

With R2 Microsoft can Dynamically Handle Virtual Workloads

Unless you have been under a rock for the past 6 months, you have probably heard that Microsoft now has the ability to move a running Virtual Machine from one box to another without downtime. With the release of Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V, or the free version Windows Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, we now have Live Migration capabilities. This was a feature that was lacking with the previous version and a major blocker for adoption by some organizations.

Now, Live Migration is available, great, but do I still have to manually pick and choose which VMs to move from one location to another. Answer, No, you don’t.

This TechEd Online TechTalk details how Microsoft dynamically handles changes in workloads.

Even before Microsoft released Hyper-V R2 with Live Migration Capabilities, they released a capability within the System Center Suite of Tools called PRO Tips (or Performance and Resource Optimization Tips) that, through the use of Management Packs in Operations Manager, monitors aspects of the Physical Layer, Virtual Layer, or Application Layer, and when an alert is generated, can automatically (or manually) take action within the Virtual environment. This video explains how PRO works, and discusses the benefits of PRO to enable a dynamic infrastructure.

Beyond that, take a listen to the following TechNet Webcast on PRO that describes in detail what PRO is, how it works, talks some on the Partner Integrations we have.

Influencer?

Do you have opinions and ideas? Would you like to share your thoughts on Virtualization and System Center (or Management as others would call it)?

Become and Influencer!!!

We are looking for folks that have an opinion, and I know you do.

Check out: http://bit.ly/2PfCpT and join Microsoft’s Influencer Program.

Microsoft Site Recovery Solutions Launch

An interesting Post today by Jim Schwartz, Director Virtualization Solutions, at Microsoft.

Basically, we are leveraging the openness of our Platform to allow partners to develop solutions that meet a customer’s particular need. In this case it is Site Recovery.

Despite tough times, an Enterprise Strategy Group study shows that 31% of businesses surveyed said DR will be their main driver for Virtualization in 2009.

These are some exciting solutions, and I can’t wait for the webcast to see what this will provide.

Take a look at the article, and let me know what you think of the webcast.