International business hosting services firm, LeaseWeb, is offering extensive green improvements, for its customers currently using Windows Server 2003, having configured over 2,000 dedicated servers at its EvoSwitch facility.

Dedicated Servers are the most versatile and powerful solution for heavy-duty hosting tasks. Therefore, the company has prepared its dedicated servers for hosting customers that want to take advantage of the new operating system as soon as it is available.

Ruud Mous, Sales Director for LeaseWeb noted, ''During the trial period, we gained important experiences using the Windows Server 2008. We were able to study the new operating system for weeks, with technical support from Microsoft for our people. Windows Server 2008 is a better hosting platform than Windows Server 2003, in particular due to the improvements in deployment and imaging management, but also as a result of the substantially higher number of sites per server and the improved performance of PHP.''

The Windows Server 2008 Early Bird promotion is possible due to LeaseWeb's Microsoft Gold Partnership and its participation in the Microsoft Rapid Deployment Program (RDP) for Windows Server 2008. Through the RDP, Microsoft has given a select number of partners the opportunity to test Windows Server 2008 at an early stage - even before the product is released to market - with technical support from Microsoft. LeaseWeb's Early Bird promotion package includes a Dedicated Server, bandwidth, and a pre-installed Windows Server 2008 with prices starting at 69 pounds per month. The Early Bird servers are hosted in LeaseWeb’s extensive hosting network.

LeaseWeb runs 500 racks in the climate-neutral data center EvoSwitch, the only greendata center in the Netherlands . The Windows 2008 servers are also located in this green data center. Those hosting customers who are interested can also use The Green Fan label, which enables them, in their marketing communications, to show their customers that they make a positive contribution to reducing CO2 emissions.

Internet Information Services 7 is an important feature in Windows Server 2008. Mr. Mous added, ''IIS7 allows us to host as many as 5,000 websites per server. IIS 6, on the other hand, was in many cases only able to handle 1,500 websites. This represents a huge improvement in efficiency within our own organization, but also for customers with a Dedicated Server.''

LeaseWeb also gives positive reviews for Powershell and Server Core. Mr. Mous continued, ''Windows administrators may have to get used to the Powershell, but it is the future for Windows and other Microsoft products. Powershell is extremely powerful and the scripting features far exceed VBScript. Now everything can be organized and scripted from the command prompt. It can be used with IIS, Exchange 2007 and SQL 2008.''

Another important innovation in Windows Server 2008 is the addition of Hyper-V, the final version of which is expected later this year. Mr. Mous concluded, ''We have also been offered the opportunity, via the Hyper-V Microsoft Rapid Deployment Program, to test Hyper-V at an early stage - and our first experiences are extremely positive. Hyper-V turns out to be an extremely powerful virtualization software. The LeaseWeb product portfolio now includes several virtualization techniques, to which Hyper-V will be added in the near future.''