The cloud offers IT organizations opportunities to flourish under a new model that delivers faster time to value and innovation. Many organizations, however, face strict compliance or business requirements. For organizations that need it all—security, efficiency, and innovation—Windows Server 2016 delivers it. Windows Server 2016 is the cloud-ready operating system that supports your current workloads while introducing new technologies that make it easy to transition to cloud computing when you are ready.
Security at the OS level
Windows Server 2016 includes built-in breach resistance to help thwart attacks on your systems and meet compliance goals. Even if someone finds a way into your environment, the layers of security built into Windows Server 2016 limit the damage they can cause and help detect suspicious activity.
Evolve your infrastructure
Datacenter operations are struggling to reduce costs while handling more data traffic. New applications stretch the operational fabric and create infrastructure backlogs that can slow business. As organizations push the boundaries of highly virtualized environments, they can use Windows Server 2016 capabilities to meet operational and security challenges, freeing up IT resources to plan a strategy that uses the cloud for future applications and solutions.
Resilient compute Run your datacenter with a highly automated, resilient server operating system.
Affordable high-performance storage
Storage systems are critical to the performance of most business applications. But traditional, expensive, manually configured storage systems can prevent organizations from realizing the efficiency benefits of a software-defined datacenter. In contrast, the Azure-inspired, software-defined storage capabilities in Windows Server 2016 use policies and automation to reduce costs and add scale.
Secure. Evolve. Innovate. Remote Desktop Services with Windows Server 2016
Desktop virtualization is one way IT leaders can more securely deliver applications to the wide array of devices that mobile workers use on the job. Because apps don’t execute on the client devices, IT also helps secure corporate data, extends the life of older equipment, and gets more out of newer, lower-cost hardware. The remote desktop experience just got better with Windows Server 2016: Better graphics experience Graphics cards (GPUs) can be assigned to a virtual machine, unleashing the full power of available server-class graphics cards to virtual desktops and apps, thus using the native driver of the GPU. Enhanced connection broker Connection Broker can now handle up to 10,000 concurrent connections. More efficient cloud deployment Reduces the number of VMs required for deployment in Azure IaaS, which combines services into a single VM. Support for cloud-managed domain services Deploy as easily on-premises as in the cloud, helping mobile workers be productive anywhere, anytime.av
Azure-inspired networking
Traditional network infrastructures are rigid and complex. Organizations can respond faster to market changes by moving the network control layer from hardware to software to create a software-defined network. This enables them to centrally configure and manage physical and virtual network devices such as routers, switches, and gateways, resulting in automatic load balancing and the ability to shift workloads without setting switches. IT can continue to use existing physical switches, routers, and other hardware devices with the virtual controllers while achieving deeper integration between the virtual network and the physical network.
Application innovation
Increasingly, organizations use apps to help differentiate themselves from the competition. Apps help win, engage, and support customers. Developers building and updating the apps tend to have little patience for the realities of IT infrastructure. They don’t want to wait long for IT services, and they want apps in production to work the same way the apps work on developers’ machines. Windows Server 2016 supports application innovation using container technology and microservices. Containers can help speed application deployment and streamline the way IT operations and development teams collaborate to deliver applications. In addition, developers can use microservices architectures to separate app functionality into smaller, independently deployable services, which make it easier to upgrade part of the app without affecting the rest. Windows Server 2016 helps organizations update and innovate with their apps in three ways: