Azaleos announced that its OneServer Virtual Edition product now also supports Microsoft Hyper -V Server for virtualization of Microsoft Exchange e-mail servers. The immediate availability of Hyper-V support combined with existing support for VMware ESX, allows customers to choose either virtualization platform, or a physical server option, for their Exchange infrastructure with Azaleos OneStop Services.

Azaleos OneStop remotely managed services enable organizations to maintain an on-premise deployment of Exchange, while off-loading monitoring and administration to professionals in the Azaleos network operations center.

“Exchange Server 2007, and its multiple roles, requires organizations to deploy several hardware servers to take advantage of its full capabilities,” said Michael Osterman, President, Osterman Research. “Hyper-V Server allows organizations to reduce hardware costs, lower their power consumption, and streamline high availability and disaster recovery configurations for Exchange using virtualization technology that is fully supported by Microsoft.”

Since Microsoft Exchange Server typically does not require the full processing capabilities of an entire server, it is ideally suited for virtualization where its needs can be combined with other workloads. Although virtualization of Exchange can be used to consolidate server and storage resources, simplify administration, as well as streamline high availability and disaster recovery – it is not appropriate for all environments. Azaleos has published a free whitepaper that outlines the benefits, challenges, and disadvantages of deploying Exchange on a virtual machine.

Azaleos OneServer Virtual Edition now provides support for the leading virtualization platforms – Microsoft Hyper-V Server and VMware ESX server. Customers can choose either alternative based on their needs, preferences, or existing investments. OneServer Virtual Edition is an all-in-one service endpoint that integrates an optimized operating system and application software components to deliver highly available, scalable, and reliable Microsoft Exchange e-mail for today’s enterprises. It enables organizations to reduce from four to two the number of physical servers normally required for a highly available Exchange configuration.

“In our tests with Exchange Server, Microsoft Hyper-V Server performed on par with the much more mature VMware ESX Server, which is impressive,” said Scott Gode, Vice President of Product Management for Azaleos. “Adding support for Hyper-V to our OneServer portfolio allows customers to choose from a broader set of virtual and physical platform options for our OneStop services based on their technical and financial needs.”

Azaleos OneStop Managed Services
OneStop Managed Services available on OneServer Virtual Edition include:

• ViewXchange
• ManageXchange
• MobileXchange
• ProtectXchange
• RestoreXchange
• ArchiveXchange