New HP Products and Services Enhance Microsoft Virtualization from Desktop to Data Center

HP today announced new additions to its recently updated portfolio of servers, storage, software and services – driving more business value into Microsoft® virtualization environments.
Today’s unveilings offer:
Immediate interoperability of Microsoft virtualization technologies with HP enterprise hardware and software offerings – including HP ProLiant and HP BladeSystem servers, HP StorageWorks and HP Thin Client products, and HP software.
Strategy, design, transition, operation and continual improvement services for new Microsoft virtualization technologies in HP and heterogeneous environments.
Customized training to prepare customers for Microsoft virtualization products and solutions.
HP and Microsoft are expanding the Microsoft Technology Center in Reston, Va., with an increased focus on the manageability, security and sustainability advantages of joint HP and Microsoft virtualization solutions. This center is targeted to the U.S. federal market.
“Customers are increasingly using virtualization to deliver lower costs and reduced risks to the business as virtualization moves from being a tactical technology toward becoming a key transformation strategy,” said Sean Hehir, vice president, Microsoft Strategic Alliance, HP. “HP has worked extensively with Microsoft to develop products and services across our portfolio that not only help customers realize the full value of Microsoft virtualization technologies, but also help them accelerate the growth of their businesses.”
“HP and Microsoft have a proven track record of delivering strong results for our customers based on our combined technology experience and industry credibility; and we deliver solutions, products and services that solve real-world business problems and provide undisputable customer value,” said Bob Kelly, corporate vice president, Infrastructure Server Marketing, Server and Tools Business, Microsoft. “HP is both a key partner and valued customer for Microsoft, and together we are helping customers obtain the full value of their Microsoft virtualization investment.”
Reduce costs, increase security and simplify management
HP ProLiant, HP BladeSystem servers and HP StorageWorks – part of the industry’s most complete platform designed for virtualization – broadly support Microsoft virtualization technologies, including Microsoft Windows® Server 2008 Hyper-V and Microsoft Hyper-V Server. HP ProLiant is one of Microsoft’s development platforms for testing and development of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.
Microsoft Hyper-V Server is a stand-alone server virtualization product that will be supported on a wide range of HP ProLiant servers, providing a cost-effective solution for consolidating existing workloads.
HP Insight Dynamics – VSE, along with Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (SCVMM), will provide a comprehensive physical and virtual systems management environment for advanced management of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V running on HP ProLiant and BladeSystem servers. This support is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2009.
HP Insight Control Environment delivers integrated and easy-to-use life cycle management for server and storage infrastructure across an entire Windows Server 2008 environment. HP Insight Control Software complements and extends the capabilities of the Microsoft System Center suite of products.
HP ProLiant is also management-enabled for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008. HP will be including Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) features in its ProLiant management pack to help customers manage their Microsoft virtual environments running on HP servers. HP StorageWorks and HP Thin Client products will provide comprehensive support for Microsoft virtualization technologies. This offers a unique opportunity for customers to work with a single vendor to purchase and deploy a comprehensive virtualization solution.
New virtualization services and education offerings
As the largest integrator of Microsoft technologies in the world, HP has the ability to integrate and support these technologies in heterogeneous environments, helping customers address strategic or large-scale virtualization deployments and management to deliver better business outcomes.
The new HP Microsoft Virtualization Infrastructure Service offerings guide customers through a transformation of their server infrastructure, including virtualization strategy, consolidation, virtual machine management and security. Applying HP data center and system integration best practices results in a more reliable and manageable infrastructure with lower, more predictable costs. In addition, HP support services help customers increase stability in ongoing operations.
The HP Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Service provides customers with an understanding of HP VDI, which includes Citrix XenDesktop along with Microsoft optimized desktop technologies such as Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, Microsoft Application Virtualization, Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services and Windows Vista®. This service enables customers to build a reliable desktop infrastructure that reduces total cost of ownership, increases security, simplifies technology management and readily adapts to new business requirements with improved flexibility.
New customized training and education offerings include classroom training, live online training, self-paced e-learning and a variety of informal learning options. These services enable businesses to stay up to date while minimizing the time away from core business activities. HP is a worldwide Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for learning solutions.
Increased management support for heterogeneous environments
HP is furthering its support for heterogeneous management of virtualized environments and seamless management of physical and virtual environments. HP software extends management of systems virtualized via Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V environments with offerings in the HP Business Technology Optimization (BTO) software portfolio.
HP IT Service Management software provides discovery of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and can be used to identify, manage and track the entire virtual asset life cycle, allowing customers to drive business value by paying for only the licenses they need.
HP Business Service Automation, including HP Server Automation software (formerly Opsware Server Automation System), will fully enable automation of change and configuration management processes across virtual and physical environments for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V environments, and will integrate with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 for managing the advanced platform capabilities, while decreasing downtime associated with uncontrolled change।

Reference : http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2008/080908xa.html?mtxs=rss-corp-news