Security, Ease of Setup and Administration Are Top Attractions; Many Tie Plans for Windows Server 2008 to Plans for Windows Vista.
CDW Corporation, a leading provider of technology products and services to business, government and education, today released a survey report that reveals information technology decision makers’ perceptions and plans for adoption of Microsoft Windows Server 2008. The poll of 772 IT professionals found that 63 percent say their organization will upgrade to Windows Server 2008, with 18 percent already implementing or making their plans to do so. Twenty percent of respondents said that they are very familiar or somewhat familiar with Windows Server 2008, which is on par with pre-launch Windows Vista.

Among respondents indicating that they plan to upgrade to Windows Server 2008, 66 percent said that there is no tie between that plan and their upgrade plans for Windows Vista. However, as many as 34 percent do, and among those, there is a slight preference for implementing Windows Vista first. The same group rated security features and the ease of setup and administration as the most attractive benefits of the new server operating system. As with Windows Vista, the risk of first-version bugs topped the list of IT decision maker concerns with Windows Server 2008, followed by questions of application and hardware compatibility.

The CDW Windows Server 2008 Tracking Poll also found that 35 percent of respondents said their organizations employ server virtualization at some level. Another 27 percent are evaluating server virtualization seriously or have plans to begin implementation within 12 months, while 38 percent of respondents have no plans to pursue server virtualization in the immediate future. Thirty-five percent identified future virtualization capabilities of Windows Server 2008 as an attractive benefit.