Windows Server 2008 gets price; ready for a February 27, 2008 launch
A little over a year ago, many enthusiasts embraced all the latest release details on Windows Vista. Leading up the consumer launch of the operating system on January 30, many details including
product packaging and
pricing were revealed to consumers months ahead of time.
Microsoft decided to put the speculation to rest this time around with is new Windows Server 2008 operating system. The company has announced pricing for the eight editions of Windows Server 2008 and has reaffirmed the operating system’s Feb 27, 2008 worldwide launch date.
Pricing for the various iterations of Windows Server 2008 are as follows:
- Windows Server 2008 Standard: $999 (with five Client Access Licenses, or CALs)
- Windows Server 2008 Enterprise: $3,999 (with 25 CALs)
- Windows Server 2008 Datacenter: $2,999 (per processor)
- Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems: $2,999 (per processor)
- Windows Web Server 2008: $469
- Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper-V: $971 (with five CALs)
- Windows Server 2008 Enterprise without Hyper-V: $3,971 (with 25 CALs)
- Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without Hyper-V: $2,971 (per processor)
All versions of Windows Server 2008 (with the exception of the Itanium version which is 64-bit only) will be available in 32-bit and 64-bit editions. In addition, businesses can choose to forgo Hyper-V technology on Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter editions to save $28 USD.
Hyper-V is
Microsoft's server virtualization technology and is only available on 64-bit editions of the software. Microsoft will also sell its Hyper-V Server as a standalone virtualization server -- it will be priced at $28 USD.
"With more than 1 million downloads and evaluation copies, we've built Windows Server 2008 based on a solid foundation of customer feedback, which is reflected in the product's ease of management, security enhancements and overall reliability," said Bob Kelly, corporate VP of Infrastructure Server Marketing at Microsoft. "The unprecedented range of customer choices and the virtualization enhancements will help customers tailor solutions built to fit virtually any business need."
"What we are trying to do enable customers to live in world where they treat all compute resources -- such as CPU cycles, storage, networking -- as a single blob while providing a consistent way of maximizing effectiveness and utilization while reducing costs for IT and making things more automated for IT," continued Andy Lees, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s server and tools marketing and solutions group. "And virtualization is the key piece of technology to enable that."
Microsoft already has a group of manufacturing backing its Hyper-V initiative including Dell, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Lenovo, NEC and Unisys.
Likewise, in an effort to make virtualization more accessible and serviceable by customers, Microsoft is launching its Server Virtualization Validation Program. Customers will be able to validate their virtualization software using this program beginning in June 2008.
"As more customers deploy and virtualize Windows-based applications on Windows Server 2008 or other server virtualization software, this program will help ensure that customers receive a joint support experience for their physical and virtual infrastructure deployments," said Kelly.
