As expected Microsoft announced System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) beta 2, which will be publicly available within 45 days.
In this new beta Microsoft introduces most wanted features like:
- Virtualization Candidates Recognition
- Capacity Planning
- Physical to Virtual (P2V) Migration
- Dynamic Workloads Placement
- Complete Scriptable Environment
Check the complete feature list here.
Subscribe the beta announcement here.
Given timeframe for SCVMM beta 2 means it will be released at WinHEC 2007 conference, where customers also hope to see first public beta of Windows Server Virtualization (codename Viridian).
With this product Microsoft is going to fill the big void left in virtualization management space of these last three years, competing at the same time against three VMware products: VirtualCenter, Lab Manager and Capacity Planner.
Update: Conference attendees are reporting interesting feedbacks about what Microsoft is showing of Virtual Machine Manager.
Omar is reporting SCVMM is able to perform a Virtual to Virtual (V2V) migration of VMware virtual machines on a Longhorn host (where Windows Server Virtualization will serve them).