Virtualization technologies are emerging as one of the most effective ways for customers to make their IT operations more dynamic, enabling them to quickly respond to business needs and lower costs. In a September research report titled "Worldwide Virtual Machine Software 2006�2010 Forecast," IDC analyst John Humphreys predicted that an already strong virtualization software market will expand to more than US$1.8 billion in 2009. The market stands at about $810 million today, up 46 percent from $560 million in 2005.

Virtualization enables IT managers to consolidate physical machines onto a virtualized platform while providing a layer of isolation between different services, software and applications so they can be set up quickly on a multitude of devices, with little or no configuration.

Microsoft is among the leaders in developing a new generation of IT infrastructure technology and tools, such as server virtualization, application virtualization and virtualization management tools, to help customers increase agility while lowering costs.

At VMworld 2006, Microsoft is making available their new virtual hard disk (VHD) Test Drive Program, which allows customers to confidently evaluate enterprise software from Microsoft and its software partners in a fraction of the time. In addition, Microsoft will have booth demonstrations of its application virtualization, server virtualization and virtualization management tools.

PressPass asked Mike Neil, senior director of virtualization strategy in Microsoft�s Windows Server Division, for an update on Microsoft�s virtualization technologies and strategy.