Get your customers cloud-ready with Windows Server 2016
With the 2016 wave of hybrid datacenter solutions, we're bringing cloud-inspired technologies to the traditional datacenter. New and enhanced features can help your customers make the most of their existing investments and datacentre today whilst growing and innovating their business with the latest cloud technologies:
- Simplify upgrades and increase resilience with enterprise-grade virtualization
- Get more flexibility with advanced cloud-born features for software-defined networking
- Reduce costs and improve performance with cloud-inspired storage
- Expand security options with a “zero-trust” approach
- Make innovation easier with modern app plat capabilities
What does “software-defined” mean?
The term “software-defined” is everywhere, and there’s a reason for that. Companies want to reduce costs and increase flexibility, which is part of what makes the software-defined approach valuable. But if you want to move faster, the first and foundational step is creating an infrastructure layer that mirrors what is done in public clouds. Windows Server 2016 brings new advanced features to further extend software-defined datacenter capabilities. Advances in storage, networking, and compute are all fully integrated into the platform to give your customers the foundation needed to meet business requirements.
Help your customers modernise their datacenter
Many customers are still on Windows Server 2003 which is now unsupported, and many more are on the 2008 edition which will also start approaching its end of life in a few years. As customers start to plan what to do with their apps, now is the time to have the conversations about how Windows Server 2016 will help them move to the cloud, enabling them to work with their workloads today, as well as transition to new technologies.
Customers with Software Assurance
We recommend talking to your customers, who have Software Assurance, to help them with their free upgrade to Windows Server 2016, and let them know about the Azure Hybrid Use Benefit. This will help you have the hybrid Azure conversation as they can move their Windows Server licence to Azure when they move their workloads to Azure.
More reasons to consider Windows Server Datacenter
Many SMBs only require Windows Server licences to cover a few virtual machines (VMs), however, as their businesses grow, they may require higher virtualisation rights, and it will become more cost-effective to buy the Datacenter edition rather than several Standard editions. In addition, Windows Server Datacenter offers even more features relating to security, storage and networking, and the Azure Hybrid Use Benefit allows the Windows Server licences to cover VMs across both on-premise and cloud environments.
How is the licensing model changing?
You will have heard that the licence model for Windows Server 2016 is changing from processor and CAL based to core and CAL based. This means that to license a physical server, all physical cores must be licensed in the server. A minimum of 8 core licenses is required for each physical processor in the server and a minimum of 16 cores is required to be licensed for servers with one processor. The price of 16-core licenses of Windows Server 2016 Datacenter and Standard Edition will be same price as the 2 proc license of the corresponding editions of the Windows Server 2012 R2 version. The virtualisation rights remain the same in as much as the Standard edition provides rights for up to 2 VMs or Hyper-V containers (when all physical cores in the server are licenced), and Datacenter edition provides rights for unlimited VMs.
Join the Partner Webinar or Watch the On Demand
Start having the hybrid cloud conversations with your customers. If you missed the launch webinar on 29 September, you can listen to the webinar recording and download the slides to access all the training and marketing resources.
We are hosting a webinar on Introducing Windows Server 2016 the cloud-ready operating system on 19th October 2016 12:00 - 12:30 (UK, London).
You can also check out the on-demand content from Ignite last week.
Other Windows Server 2016 Resources: