Virtualization needs to be the default in the data center, for tactical and strategic reasons -- server consolidation, power savings, fluidity of moving data between machines and even data centers, says David Greschler, director of Microsoft's integrated virtualization strategy.

Making it so, Microsoft-style, means making virtualization easy to get. That it has done in two ways. It has integrated virtualization into the operating system, making its Hyper-V hypervisor a component of Windows Server 2008. And, for those enterprises not yet ready for Windows Server 2008, it offers a free hypervisor, Hyper-V Server 2008.

Microsoft's integration strategy was a big boon to MLS Property Information Network (PIN), a prominent multiple listing service in New England, says Matt Lavallee, directory of technology at the Shrewsbury, Mass., company.

"We knew virtualization was the answer for us because of our capacity bubbling, ... and it would a very compelling problem for us not to have gone with Hyper-V," he says

Especially important was the training component, Lavallee says.

"We did an early cost evaluation between Hyper-V and VMware ESX Server with VirtualCenter. With ESX, we had to add in costs for training -- if it's new to your environment and you're deploying a six-figure toolset, you have to have the training and implicit knowledge that goes with that," says Lavallee, noting that at the time the VMware solution would have cost $160,000 vs. nothing for Hyper-V, since MLS PIN already had its Windows Server 2008 licenses in place with unlimited node capacity.

MLS PIN has consolidated 60 stand-alone servers down to 20 clustered servers running Hyper-V. Next up will be virtualizing storage and then bringing in the networking piece, Lavallee says.

For Microsoft, making ubiquitous virtualization feasible also means managing the whole thing end to end, Greschler adds. From a Microsoft System Center console, that means being able to manage the physical and virtual machines, including hypervisors from other vendors. "The hypervisor gives you the foundation, but it's the management that lets you unlock the value," he adds.

Next Microsoft would like to be able to take this flexibility and extend outward, allowing enterprises to move workloads among data centers that are either their own or rented compute power. "This represents a whole new set of challenges, including directory, compliance, security, provisioning -- and nobody has the answer today, not Microsoft, not VMware," Greschler says.

But Microsoft is working toward this IT-as-a-service end, he adds, not only through Hyper-V and System Center, but with its cloud offering, Azure.