market share microsoft hyper-v

Simply put, Microsoft has captured about 25 percent of the virtualization market, and the software giant is connecting the dots between Hyper-V, private clouds and public clouds like Windows Azure, Greschler asserts.

When it comes to Microsoft’s virtualization strategy, most VARs focus first on the Hyper-V hypervisor. But Greschler makes a strong case for focusing on Microsoft System Center as well. Using System Center, solutions providers can manage physical and virtual assets — including Hyper-V and VMware-centric deployments, Greschler notes.

Microsoft’s ultimate assertion: While VMware wants to control the entire virtualization market, Microsoft is developing tools that support multiple hypervisors.

Also of note: Greschler claims Microsoft offers a standardized approach to next-generation application deployments and management, whether the applications run on-premise or in the cloud.

Using Hyper-V for private, on-premises clouds or service provider clouds is a natural stepping stone to deploying applications in Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud, Greschler adds.

On the one hand, Windows Azure supports a range of programming standards — like PHP, Perl, Python and Ruby on Rails. But on the other hand, Microsoft’s on-premises, virtualization and cloud strategies all support .Net, so partners and developers can easily move applications from one approach to the next, Greschler asserts.

Dollars and Cents

What’s in it for partners? Greschler says Microsoft’s virtualization solutions cost end-customers roughly one-third the price of VMware’s offerings. The cost savings, in turn, allow VARs to promote additional services to customers, he asserts.

Greschler and other Microsoft executives — particularly COO Kevin Turner — also are quick to note Microsoft’s market share gains. According to some recent research from IDC, Microsoft has about 25 percent of the virtualization market, compared to roughly 50 percent for VMware. True believers include CH2M Hill, a Fortune 500 firm that’s moving from VMware to Hyper-V.

The most telling statistic of all: Microsoft’s virtualization products have only been available for about two years, but they seem to be gaining traction within Microsoft’s channel. One prime example: The M7 Group spans seven solutions providers that promote virtualization offerings from a range of vendors — including Microsoft.

VMware’s Spin

Of course, The VAR Guy within the next few days has to give VMware some equal time on the topic of Microsoft and virtualization.

In the meantime, thousands of folks continue to navigate the trade show flow at VMworld — suggesting that VMware remains as influential as ever. Also, Motley Fool notes that VMware’s stock has risen 158 percent since September 2009 as more customers flocked to VMware’s software. And a survey from CommVault suggests VMware remains the preferred virtualization standard for 83 percent of customers.

Hmmm… Read this blog entry again from top to bottom and it seems like there’s plenty of debate over the Microsoft and VMware market share stats. But this is known: Microsoft and VMware both have growing virtualization businesses…

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