New VDI, Management Technology Announced

First published on TECHNET on Nov 04, 2008
A few items to call out.

First up is Manlio's post about the renaming of Terminal Services - it'll be known as Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2008 R2 -- and the new VDI features. Here's an excerpt:

The key here is that RDS in Windows Server 2008 R2 makes the new server OS the ideal platform for companies to implement a centralized desktop strategy and for partners to provide additional innovation. It introduces the new Remote Desktop Connection Broker – an expansion of the Session Broker in Windows Server 2008 – which provides the administrator with a unified experience for setting up user access to both virtualized desktops (running as a full Windows client OS on top of Microsoft’s virtualization infrastructure) and traditional session-based remote desktops. Together with Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager, the Remote Desktop Connection Broker enables a VDI solution for low-complexity, departmental environments, and a platform for partners who are delivering rich, extensible solutions where heterogeneous client support is a prerequisite, and when enhanced management and scalability is a requirement. The Remote Desktop Connection Broker it complements other, shared RDS infrastructure components in Windows Server 2008, such as Remote Desktop Web Access or Remote Desktop Gateway. With the Remote Desktop Connection Broker, partners will find an extensive set of APIs that will allow them to continue innovation and deliver added value to customers.

Second, over at the System Center team blog , Paul announced the beta of System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2. Check out the video with Barry Shilmover. Here's an excerpt:

The beta itself will include a number of enhancements including the cross platform capabilities that we originally released as separate beta at MMS earlier this year, some enhanced service level monitoring reports and dashboards, and a number of UI improvements that include a new version of the management pack authoring console. Combined these will provide a lot of opportunities for organizations to make their data center and server management activities more cost effective and efficient.

Last item is a recent CRN magazine interview with Microsoft GM Mike Neil (who's blogged here before). It's about 6 minutes long. See below or go here .

Patrick