The IT Stuff

A key benefit of virtualization is the ability to run multiple operating systems on a single physical system and share the underlying hardware resources known as partitioning.

Hardware-level virtualization,
Operating systemlevel virtualization,
and high-level language virtual machines.

For Unix/RISC and industry-standard x86 systems, the two approaches typically used with software-based partitioning are hosted and hypervisor architectures .
A hosted approach [...]

Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, the next-generation hypervisor-based server virtualization technology, is available as an integral feature of Windows Server 2008 and enables you to implement server virtualization with ease. Hyper-V allows you to make the best use of your server hardware investments by consolidating multiple server roles as separate virtual machines (VMs) running on a [...]

Reduce capital costs by requiring less hardware and lowering operational costs while increasing your server to admin ratio
Ensure your enterprise applications perform with the highest availability and performance
Build up business continuity through improved disaster recovery solutions and deliver high availability throughout the datacenter
Improve desktop management with faster deployment of desktops and fewer support calls [...]

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 provides a simplified, reliable, and optimized virtualization solution, enabling improved server utilization and reduced costs. Since Hyper-V Server is a dedicated stand-alone product, which contains only the Windows Hypervisor, Windows Server driver model and virtualization components, it provides a small footprint and minimal overhead. It easily plugs [...]