Marketing description

Windows Server 2008 R2 builds on the award-winning foundation of Windows Server 2008, expanding existing technology and adding features to enable IT professionals to increase the reliability and flexibility of their server infrastructures. Virtualization tools, Web resources, management enhancements, and exciting Windows 7 integration help save time, reduce costs, and provide a platform for a dynamic and efficiently managed data center. Powerful tools such as Internet Information Services (IIS) version 7.5, updated Server Manager and Hyper-V platforms and Windows PowerShell version 2.0 combine to give customers greater control, increased efficiency and the ability to react to front-line business needs faster than ever before.
Windows Server 2008 R2 has been designed as a best-of-breed enterprise operating platform, capable of handling the most demanding data center workloads and delivering the latest next-generation network productivity experience to end-users across even the largest networks.

Key selling points

• Improving the web application platform
• Enabling server and desktop virtualization
• Improving power management and streamlining management
• Scalability and reliability

Product features

• Improving the web application platform
  Windows Server 2008 R2 includes many enhancements that make this release the most robust Windows Server Web application platform yet. It offers an updated Web server role, Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5, and greater support for .NET on Server Core. Design goals for IIS 7.5 concentrated on improvements that enable Web administrators to more easily deploy and manage Web applications that increase both reliability and scalability. Additionally, IIS 7.5 has streamlined management capabilities and provides more ways to customize your Web serving environment.
• Enabling server and desktop virtualization
  Virtualization is a major part of today's data centers. The operating efficiencies offered by virtualization allow organizations to dramatically reduce operational effort and power consumption. Windows Server 2008 R2 provides the following virtualization types: Client and Server virtualization provided by Hyper-V and Presentation virtualization with remote desktop services.
• Improving power management and streamlining management
  The ongoing management of servers in the data center is one of the most time-consuming tasks facing IT professionals today. Any management strategy you deploy must support the management of both your physical and virtual environments. To help with this problem, Windows Server 2008 R2 has features to reduce the ongoing management of Windows Server 2008 R2 and to reduce the administrative effort for common day-to-day operational tasks.
• Scalability and reliability
  Windows Server 2008 R2 is capable of unprecedented workload size, dynamic scalability, and across-the-board availability and reliability. A host of new and updated features will be available, including leveraging sophisticated CPU architectures, increased operating system componentization, and improved performance and scalability for applications and services.