With everyone going hyper about the things that hyper-v can do, it makes sense to talk more about virtualization. Atleast the feeling that I get from partners is that figuring out how virtualization will help customers and the kind of customers to pitch virtualization to are the biggest gray areas, even with all the information and buzz available on the subject.
I found some resources (courtesy: ronaldg) that will help clarify the scenarios in which virtualization can really be beneficial to a customer. As regards to the size of the customer, I dont think that this should be a size segmented offering. A small business with WS2008 that needs to provide access to applications from a terminal services gateway could be just as good a candidate as a large firm that has lots of unused disk space and processing power and several operating systems that need to be managed. I guess we'll find out when the products finally in market and people begin using it.
Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack 1 and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager
The goal of this cookbook is to provide the steps and guidance necessary for you to successfully install and configure Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 and System Center Virtual Machine Manager. You may then create and manage virtual machines, and perform P2V migration.
Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007, Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack 1, and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager
The scenario presented in this cookbook will take you through the steps necessary to install Virtual Server and SCVMM, and then convert a workload to a virtual machine. This cookbook also includes the steps necessary to install DPM and to back up a running virtual machine, as well as information about monitoring and reporting using DPM.
Mobile User Access of Applications. Terminal Server running on virtual machines using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack 1
In this cookbook we will install Terminal Server on a virtual machine and access the terminal server remotely. We will also show how to install Remote Desktop Web Connection and how to configure Windows® Firewall to allow remote clients to access the terminal server.
Hosted Backup and Recovery Solutions for Service Providers using Data Protection Manager (DPM) and Virtual Server (VS)
This cookbook will provide procedural, step-by-step guidance to an IT Generalist audience providing data backup and recovery to customers as a hosted solution using Virtual Server and System Center Data Protection Manager 2007.
Simple Offsite Backup and Recovery of virtual machines using DPM and VS
This cookbook will provide procedural, step-by-step guidance to an IT Generalist audience for backing up and restoring virtual machines running in an offsite location using Virtual Server and System Center Data Protection Manager 2007.
Simple Onsite Backup and Recovery of virtual machines using DPM and VS
This cookbook will provide procedural, step-by-step guidance to an IT Generalist audience for backing up and restoring running virtual machines using Virtual Server and System Center Data Protection Manager 2007.
Application Isolation and Operation in Branch Offices Using VS
This cookbook will provide procedural, step-by-step guidance to an IT Generalist audience for isolating and operating applications on separate virtual machines in branch offices using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1, in an Intel-based hardware environment for regulatory compliance and improved legacy workload performance.