Partners

Sun Microsystems

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Sun Microsystems develops technologies that power the global marketplace. Guided by a singular vision—"The Network Is the Computer"—Sun offers a complete desktop-to-data center virtualization product portfolio and a comprehensive set of virtualization service offerings to help customers deploy new services faster, maximize the utilization of system resources, and more easily monitor and manage virtualized environments.

For more information about Sun, visit the company profile on Microsoft Pinpoint.

Sun and Microsoft Virtualization

Sun and Microsoft are working together to increase interoperability between the Sun product line and Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V technology.

Optimize your infrastructure, from the data center to the desktop, with flexible, energy-efficient virtualization solutions from Microsoft and Sun. Their history of collaboration and commitment to better interoperability will enable virtualization solutions to meet a wide range of requirements. Whether you need a desktop or a data center solution, these technologies are designed for maximum return on investment (ROI), power efficiencies, and agility. With management technologies from Sun and Microsoft, you can streamline operating system patching, simplify configurations, and realize more secure virtualized environments.

  • Interoperability: Extensive testing and validation processes will provide flexible, reliable configuration options, and ensure Windows Server 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, and Windows Server 2008 runs well as a guest on Sun xVM virtualization technologies and that Sun Solaris runs well as a guest on Hyper-V. Sun is enrolled into the Windows Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP), demonstrating Sun’s commitment to working with Microsoft on interoperability.

  • Manageability: Simplify operating system patching and management by combining Sun xVM Ops Center with Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007.

  • Cost savings: Realize maximum ROI by increasing server utilization and consolidation, lowering data center power and cooling costs, and using low-cost, power-efficient devices, such as Sun Ray client computers that use one-tenth the energy of a typical computer.

Customer Scenario

Managing data center and desktop environments is incredibly time-consuming and expensive. IT departments are struggling to regain control over decentralized environments, reduce the overhead associated with unused capacity, and cut rising operational costs that stem from server and desktop sprawl, high energy prices, and vast power and cooling requirements for devices. Virtualization lets organizations regain control and cut costs by viewing technology as a shared pool of resources that can be dynamically adapted to business requirements. However, to realize the full cost savings and flexibility benefits of virtualization, users must choose solutions that are best suited to their business and that are optimized for virtualization.

Sun + Microsoft Solution

To design an infrastructure that delivers maximum flexibility and cost savings, organizations should:

  • Choose hardware platforms that are most efficient for their needs. This means determining the density and input/output (I/O) they need, because this will drive the ability to fit more virtual machines, using Hyper-V or Sun xVM Server, on fewer physical servers, and will enable the creation of green infrastructures that require less space and consume less power.

  • Research ways to centralize and improve desktop management. By virtualizing desktops and using thin-client access devices, such as Sun Ray clients, organizations can centralize the operating system and run on robust servers with Hyper-V. This will streamline management solutions, help enhance security of the desktop environment, and help make critical tasks, such as operating system patch management, much easier.

  • Manage the physical and virtual assets with Sun xVM Server and xVM Ops Center. By integrating with solutions from Microsoft System Center, Sun xVM Server and xVM Ops Center software provide a single management console for the full life-cycle management of either a physical or virtual operating environment.

Microsoft and Sun provide data center-to-desktop virtualization solutions that are optimized for flexibility and efficiency:

  • Sun xVM Server is an enterprise-class hypervisor appliance that enables data center virtualization and management.

  • Sun xVM Ops Center is a centralized management solution for both physical and virtual systems, providing one-point discovery, provisioning, patching, and updating across the enterprise.

  • Sun x64 Systems deliver industry-leading innovation to the x86 server and storage markets. Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V on Sun x64 systems is being successfully tested and deployed across companies of all sizes. This expands on the existing Windows-based ecosystem offered by Sun, which includes qualifications, solutions, and key tools and utilities for the Windows operating system. Customers can also take advantage of virtualization benefits from Sun when running the Windows operating system on energy-efficient Sun x64 systems.

  • Sun Ray virtual display client computers deliver extremely secure interoperable desktop computing without the maintenance, upgrading, and operational costs of desktop computers.

  • Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V consolidates multiple server roles as separate virtual machines running on a single physical machine so that users can efficiently run multiple operating systems—Windows, Linux, and others—in parallel, on a single server, and take advantage of the 64-bit operating environment.

  • Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 enables centralized management of physical and virtual IT infrastructures, increased server utilization, and dynamic resource optimization across multiple virtualization platforms.

  • Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 enables users to comprehensively assess, deploy, and update servers, client computers, and devices—across physical, virtual, distributed, and mobile environments. Optimized for the Windows operating system and extensible beyond, it is the best choice for gaining enhanced insight into and control over IT systems.

Solution Briefs

White Papers

Webcasts

  • Microsoft and Sun
    Mark Bowker, industry analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group, discusses virtualization with David Greschler of Microsoft and Vijay Sarathy of Sun.

Videos

  • Sun xVM Portfolio launch
    Watch the replay of Sun’s launch of the xVM virtualization portfolio. Hear from Rich Green, EVP, Sun Software who discusses the strategic partnership with Microsoft’s Mike Neil, GM of Virtualization.

Press releases

Case Studies

  • Sun and Avanade
    To reduce hardware costs and boost responsiveness, Avanade implemented a virtualization solution using the Windows Server 2008 operating system with Hyper-V technology and x64 servers from Sun Microsystems.

To Partner Overview
Sun Microsystems

"Interoperability is an important requirement for customers to adopt virtualization for their datacenters and desktops," said Bob Kelly, corporate vice president of Microsoft Infrastructure Server Marketing. “Together with Sun, we are equally committed to ensuring Windows Server runs well on Sun's virtualization products, and that the same is true for the Solaris operating system running on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V."

Mark Bowker, industry analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, discusses virtualization with David Greschler of Microsoft and Vijay Sarathy of Sun.

Listen to the discussion