Microsoft reached a new milestone today, with the release of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, a virtualization software that offers the management tools to configure, operate, deploy and backup physical and virtual servers from the datacenter to the desktop, all from a single machine.

The announcement came out after multiple delays. Microsoft now hopes to cut some of the advantage its competitors, such as VMware Inc. or Citrix, have gained on the market to date.

In order to capture the momentum needed to bring Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V to light, Microsoft has already planned a series of conferences and presentations to promote the virtualization concept.

As Microsoft pointed out, virtualization will help companies maximize the value of IT investments, decrease the server footprint, energy consumption and cost and complexity of managing IT systems while increasing the flexibility of the overall environment.

Over 250 customers have already tried Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V in its early stages. The tool is designed to increase efficiency and respond to some of the most demanding workloads.

Bill Hilf, general manager of Windows Server Marketing and Platform Strategy at Microsoft, explained that in order to truly see the benefits of virtualization, it is critical to have the right processes and tools in place.

He also highlighted the importance of good management tools, which are “the glue that holds it all together” and produce the true benefits of virtualization.

The Scooter Store, who virtualized its server environment and centralized server management using Virtual Server 2005 R2 and System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007, also one of the first customers to try out the Hyper-V, said they expect the Hyper-V to be even easier to use, faster and more efficient.

In order to allow partners and customers to assess whether their servers are good candidates for virtualization with Hyper-V, Microsoft also released the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 3.1 Beta.

In addition to that, Microsoft also released System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 beta in order to help customers best configure and deploy their hypervisor-based environments.