AMD today announced the availability of robust new virtualization solutions powered by a combination of technologies from AMD and Microsoft Corp. This new deployment model uses AMD Opteron processors with AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) technology together with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V to deliver significant efficiencies to enterprises large and small. Mid-market companies in particular, which have traditionally been slower to implement virtualization, can take advantage of the combined AMD and Microsoft product offering to help reduce cost, complexity and energy consumption.

"AMD has taken a leading role in driving virtualization innovation into the x86 processor, helping to meet a compelling need in the commercial market for cost reduction, increased performance and energy efficiency," said Kevin Knox, vice president of Worldwide Commercial Business, AMD. "Now, through our continued partnership with Microsoft, AMD is expanding virtualization's reach and the benefits of resource consolidation to companies that might not have taken advantage of virtualization in the past."

Resource consolidation achieved through virtualization can deliver the low energy consumption, and superior utilization and manageability demanded by today's businesses. AMD Opteron processors and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, a hypervisor-based virtualization feature of Microsoft Windows Server 2008, allow OEMs, VARs and Solution Providers to offer a valuable server virtualization combination to help increase their competitive edge and market opportunity. AMD-V technology and Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V also help enable businesses to scale according to demands, boosting the efficiency of workloads.

"AMD and Microsoft have a history of working closely together to design industry-leading solutions that allow customers to maximize their investments and stay ahead of the changing business landscape," said Bob Kelly, corporate vice president of Microsoft Infrastructure Server Marketing. "Virtualization is here to stay, and Microsoft's portfolio of virtualization software combined with technology like AMD-V will help a business of any size realize its potential."

Increased Flexibility for the Mid-Market
Mid-market companies are often faced with legacy applications and hardware, integration challenges and cost constraints. The efficiencies and flexibility promised through the combined AMD and Microsoft product offering is expected to particularly benefit this underserved market segment.

"We implemented virtualization for manageability purposes, but rapidly adopted the AMD and Microsoft solution for its multiple benefits," said David P. Smith, Chief Technology Officer, ServiceU Corporation, an on-demand event management software provider. "Through the use of power-efficient AMD processors running Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, in one datacenter alone we doubled the number of operating system installs and processor cores, while cutting power requirements, heat output and space requirements by approximately one third," continued Smith. "We were blown away by the results, and are now firm believers in the AMD Opteron processor and Microsoft's Hyper-V technology."

AMD Opteron processors with Direct Connect Architecture are well suited for x86 server-based virtualization. Microsoft and AMD's robust architectures allow customers to scale with ease, providing a flexible infrastructure that can evolve as an organization grows. The two platforms also deliver the necessary performance to securely handle memory-intensive virtualization with less overhead-all with low energy consumption. Benefits of AMD's design architecture and technology include:

• AMD-V technology improves efficiency by allowing customers to host more virtual machines, transactions and users per server with superior control and less overhead.
• Native multi-core capabilities fully integrate processing cores rather than simply packing them together.
• AMD continues to add significant features to AMD Opteron processors, such as Extended Migration, the Tagged Translation Look-aside Buffer for fast switching times and Rapid Virtualization Indexing technology.

For more on AMD's virtualization solutions go to AMD-V page.