18^th October 2013 will see the release of the new Windows Server 2012 R2. This latest Server has been produced with great enthusiasm by Microsoft, giving their users the highest quality product to date. The much anticipated release of the Windows R2 Sever will enable users to create their very own secure, private and hybrid infrastructure.

The new product aims to help improve the flexibility of your business through the new exciting features. The Windows Server 2012 R2 has been enhanced in the following ways:

Storage Spaces are now equipped with a Storage Tier Feature that will automatically tier the users data. It also benefits by using hard disks and state drives to increase its storage performance. This new level of storage capability produces a more cost-effective outcome.

The Server also offers a new approach to software defined networking. The new product is capable of offering the flexibility of placing a Virtual Machine on a range of nodes regardless of an isolated IP address.

Physical networks can now be easily accessed through the new In-box Gateway. This feature also enables the user to access virtual networks online.

The new product also benefits from having the capability of performing at a much higher level than previous servers and comes equipped with an integrated virtualisation platform. Should the Windows Server 2012 try to migrate with an E2 host through live cross-version migration, then the user will not have to worry about receiving downtime as this will not happen.

Through the use of the Central Processing Units (CPU), traffic in live migrations will be tightly closed. By producing this result without the use of any special hardware the user will see that the time taken to do this is approximately halved. Live migrations will be faster, especially with the use of a Remote Direct Memory Access as this creates offloading of the process to a Network Interface Controller.

With Protection being an all important aspect of Cloud hosting services, the Windows Server 2012 R2 gives users added security through a simple registration procedure that makes your device known to their IT. This allows the user to work on any device both on premises or cloud-based with the server being able to manage your single identity. Windows have also added a Multi-factor authentication for additional security.

For Java Application monitoring it features a Level Alert within the Operations Manager and it supports both Java JDK and Tomcat. Finally, it also comes equipped with Line-of-Code level traceability with performance and exception marks.

Microsoft claim that this server will ultimately be simple, cost-effective, application focused and user-centric. It will be released this October alongside Windows System Center 2012 R2, the Windows Intune update and the new Windows 8.1.