Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Designed for businesses that demand the highest levels of reliability, scalability, and large-scale virtualization, Windows Server 2008 Datacenter enables mission-critical solutions for databases, ERP, high volume real-time transaction processing, and server consolidation. Its unlimited virtualization rights allow for significantly extending the savings customers can realize through server consolidation on the Windows Server platform on small and large servers.

Hyper-V Windows Server Hyper-V, the next-generation hypervisor-based server virtualization technology, allows you to make the best use of your server hardware investments by consolidating multiple server roles as separate virtual machines (VMs) running on a single physical machine. With Hyper-V you can also efficiently run multiple different operating systems—Windows, Linux, and others—in parallel, on a single server, and fully leverage the power of x64 computing. Hyper-V provides a dynamic, reliable, and scalable virtualization platform combined with a single set of integrated management tools to manage both physical and virtual resources, enabling you to create an agile and dynamic data center.

Licensing Windows Server 2008 Datacenter is licensed by the processor plus Windows Server Client Access Licenses (CALs). If the Datacenter server is being accessed or used, a CAL is required for every user or device, unless the access is anonymous and gained through the Internet.

Unlimited Virtualization Rights Windows Server 2008 Datacenter licenses include unlimited virtualization rights, meaning customers have the use rights to run an unlimited number of virtualized instances of Windows Server on processors licensed with Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without purchasing additional licenses. The use rights also allow the choice of running Windows Server 2008 (or previous version) Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter in the virtual instances.