The Last Word
So, when can you get your hands on all of the features and benefits of Hyper-V? The good news is, you can get started exploring the product today: there is a beta release available right now, which you can download at Microsoft.com. Microsoft plans to sign off on the final build of Hyper-V within 180 days of the release to manufacturing of Windows Server 2008, and it will offer multiple SKUs of Windows Server 2008, with and without Hyper-V included in the box.
If you're concerned about the time and money you've invested in your virtualization infrastructure already, you'll be pleased to know that users of Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 can move relatively seamlessly over to Hyper-V when it's ready, without losing the effort put in to Virtual Server thus far. However, you may need some new hardware in some instances, as Hyper-V will require 64-bit hardware and will not be released in an x86 (32-bit) edition.
Hyper-V is the natural next step in Microsoft's virtualization story. With properly equipped hardware, you stand ready to enjoy a number of benefits that weren't possible before.
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