Microsoft is announcing new or updated technology and information related to Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate, Office 2010 and SQL Server 2008 at its TechEd North America conference. Microsoft says Windows 7 will ship in time for the holiday buying season, and Windows Server 2008 R2 will be released to the market in the same time frame.At its TechEd North
America conference, Microsoft is announcing new or updated technology and
information related to four key areas: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2
Release Candidate, Office 2010 and SQL Server 2008.
During his May 11 keynote speech at the event being held May 11 to 15 in Los
Angeles, Bill Veghte, senior vice president of the Windows Business at
Microsoft, said, "With early RC testing and extensive partner feedback
we've received, Windows 7 is tracking well for holiday availability."
Moreover, "Microsoft is committed to ensuring that IT professionals and
developers continue to have the platform and technologies to drive maximum
value and business results," Veghte said. "Getting the most out of IT
investments is even more important in today's economy."
In addition to indicating that Windows 7 will be available to customers in
time for the holiday shopping season, Microsoft noted that Windows Server 2008
R2 RC also is now available, with the final product being released to market in
the same time frame as Windows 7, said Robert Wahbe, corporate vice president
of Microsoft's Server and Tools Marketing Group.
Wahbe said in today's economy Microsoft customers tell the company they have
two primary concerns: "to drive down costs and to drive up competitive
advantage."
For his part, Veghte cited the combined benefits of Windows Server 2008 R2
and Windows 7 as an ideal example of delivering business efficiency and cost
savings through technology. Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 include
security, reliability and productivity enhancements, which, when used together,
help deliver significant cost savings and productivity gains with features such
as DirectAccess and BranchCache, he said.
Ward Ralston, a product manager on the Windows Server team, said Windows
Server 2008 R2 RC includes several new capabilities, such as FCI (File
Classification Infrastructure), a built-in solution for file classification and
management. In addition, Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V now gives customers the
ability to scale up to 64 logical processors, delivers improved Web experiences
with IIS (Internet Information Services) 7.5, and offers increased hardware
utilization and server availability with built-in Live Migration for
virtualization technologies. Windows Server 2008 R2 RC is available for
download.
"We are improving the efficiency of our branch offices and saving
bandwidth by using BranchCache in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7,"
Lukas Kucera, IT services manager of Lukoil CEEB, said in a statement .
"Some of our smaller facilities, such as the office in Slovakia and the
storage terminal in Belgium, have just five to 10 users, so it's not efficient
to deploy a file server on-site, but it consumes bandwidth to have them continually
accessing files from the main servers. BranchCache is the perfect
solution."
Meanwhile, Microsoft is giving TechEd attendees the first opportunity to
participate in the invitation-only Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview
program, which will be available in July 2009. The Microsoft Office 2010 wave
of products boosts productivity by giving users a familiar experience across
the PC, phone and browser, the company said. For IT professionals, Office 2010
will offer more choice and flexibility in how they buy and manage their IT assets,
helping them reduce costs, according to Microsoft. For developers, it will
provide a platform for building innovative, connected Office-related
applications with greater ease, Wahbe said. More information is available here.
In addition, Microsoft announced that a Community Technology Preview of
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2formerly code-named Kilimanjarowill be available
in the second half of 2009. SQL Server 2008 R2 will empower users to make
better decisions through self-service business intelligence, and help IT drive
greater efficiency and reduce costs through new capabilities such as multiserver
management and Master Data Services, Ralston said. In 2010, Microsoft will also
introduce complex event processing for real-time insight into streaming
information, the company said.