Dell White Paper Sample

It typically takes 12 to 18 months of planning and testing before organizations start deploying Windows Server 2008. During that time period, IT departments must perform many labor-intensive tasks including inventory, application rationalization, and image preparation, packaging, remediation, virtualization, deployment planning, data and personal settings migration, and the actual deployment itself.

These steps are necessary for a number of reasons. First, companies must ensure that existing computing systems are capable of running Windows Server 2008. Second, due to security enhancements and other changes in Windows Server 2008, applications must be tested for compatibility. Third, application packages must be tested against constantly changing images. And finally, given the large (typically 2 GB or larger) images associated with a Windows Server 2008 deployment, consideration must be given to the impact a software distribution-based company-wide installation would have on a corporate network.