Companies partitioning large servers would receive a second benefit that could be very important when consolidating applications from smaller servers onto one larger one. Under the new scheme, Microsoft would let companies run multiple instances of applications on the licensed segment, or partition, Gillen said. Businesses typically consolidate using virtual-machine technology that essentially emulates the operating system from older servers being consolidated on newer, more advanced servers. A virtual machine offers customers many advantages, such as the ability to use existing applications on a newer operating system with better security. "Let's say you have a four-way system and you license four processors and you decide that you want to have two virtual machines running and you want to run those applications under both those virtual machines," Gillen said. "You can do it under this license. Previously, you would buy a four-processor license for every instance of the application." In February, Microsoft agreed to buy virtual machine technology from Connectix, in part to support this kind of server consolidation among larger customers. "I think this was in motion before the Connectix deal was finalised," Gillen said. "They've been working on plans to make these kinds of changes for some time." Gillen added that "there's one major shortcoming to this announcement -- that it stops short of the OS", referring to Windows Server 2003. He said that omission might be disconcerting to customers preparing to move to Windows Server 2003. Microsoft is expected to release final code to manufacturing within the week, according to sources. Windows Server 2003 officially launches on 24 April in San Francisco. Bob O'Brien, group product manager for Windows Server, said in some ways the OS already is available on a per-processor basis. "The product we deliver now is rated to run based on the processor," he said. But the new plan does not specifically apply to Windows. Gillen is convinced that Microsoft will eventually respond with Windows Server licensing changes to at least partly match the other products. "I think they're well aware that they need to deal with the operating system and they will come forward with something," he said. "But we're going to have to wait awhile for that." Already, Microsoft has made changes on the client side. In December, Microsoft amended Windows Server 2003 licensing so customers could buy client access licences per use as an option to per machine. The change lowered costs for companies that have users accessing a single server from multiple devices.
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