LeaseWeb: We have 2,000 Dedicated Servers with Windows Server 2008 Ready for Action

Amsterdam, Netherlands - 7 March 2008 – LeaseWeb (www.leaseweb.com), the largest business hosting provider in the Netherlands, is confident that Windows Server 2008 will offer important improvements for its customers that currently use Windows Server 2003. This is the reason why LeaseWeb has already configured 2,000 Dedicated Servers at their EvoSwitch facility, their “green” data center. Dedicated Servers are the most versatile and powerful solution for heavy-duty hosting tasks. The 2,000 Dedicated Servers have been prepared for hosting customers that want to take advantage of the new operating system as soon as it is available.

“Early Bird” Promotion

The Windows Server 2008 “Early Bird” promotion is possible thanks to LeaseWeb’s Microsoft Gold Partnership and its participation in the Microsoft Rapid Deployment Program (RDP) for Windows Server 2008. Through the RDP, Microsoft has given a select number of partners the opportunity to test Windows Server 2008 at an early stage – even before the product is released to market – with technical support from Microsoft. LeaseWeb's “Early Bird” promotion package includes a Dedicated Server, bandwidth, and a pre-installed Windows Server 2008 with prices starting at 69 € per month. The “Early Bird” servers are hosted in LeaseWeb’s extensive hosting network.

Windows Server 2008 is a Green application

LeaseWeb runs 500 racks in the climate-neutral data center EvoSwitch, the only “green” data center in the Netherlands. The Windows 2008 servers are also located in this green data center. Those hosting customers who are interested can also use The Green Fan label (www.thegreenfan.com), which enables them, in their marketing communications, to show their customers that they make a positive contribution to reducing CO2 emissions.

First-Hand Experience with Windows Server 2008

“During the trial period, we gained important experiences using the Windows Server 2008, explains Ruud Mous, Sales Director for LeaseWeb. “We were able to study the new operating system for weeks, with technical support from Microsoft for our people. Windows Server 2008 is a better hosting platform than Windows Server 2003, in particular due to the improvements in deployment and imaging management, but also as a result of the substantially higher number of sites per server and the improved performance of PHP.”

Benefits of Windows Server 2008

Internet Information Services 7 is an important feature in Windows Server 2008. “IIS7 allows us to host as many as 5,000 websites per server,” says Mous. “IIS 6, on the other hand, was in many cases only able to handle 1,500 websites. This represents a huge improvement in efficiency within our own organization, but also for customers with a Dedicated Server.”

LeaseWeb also gives positive reviews for Powershell and Server Core. “Windows administrators may have to get used to the Powershell, but it is the future for Windows and other Microsoft products. Powershell is extremely powerful and the scripting features far exceed VBScript. Now everything can be organized and scripted from the command prompt. It can be used with IIS, Exchange 2007 and SQL 2008.”

Another important innovation in Windows Server 2008 is the addition of Hyper-V, the final version of which is expected later this year. Says Mous: “We have also been offered the opportunity, via the Hyper-V Microsoft Rapid Deployment Program, to test Hyper-V at an early stage – and our first experiences are extremely positive. Hyper-V turns out to be an extremely powerful virtualization software. The LeaseWeb product portfolio now includes several virtualization techniques, to which Hyper-V will be added in the near future.”

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About LeaseWeb

LeaseWeb (www.leaseweb.com) is an international supplier of hosting products and services that specializes in both Microsoft and Linux, and focuses primarily on the professional market. The company is among the top 30 hosting providers in the world and provides services such as web hosting, dedicated hosting, colocated hosting, VPS and streaming, as well as technical support. LeaseWeb owns a first-class Cisco-powered network offering a bandwidth of over 160 Gbps, which extends across five data centers in the Amsterdam region via the major telecom carriers.  LeaseWeb is also present on internet exchanges in Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Frankfurt, New York, Vienna, Stockholm, Warsaw, Zurich, Prague and Madrid.  Through this network, LeaseWeb enables companies all over the world to create and maintain an online presence in an affordable and reliable manner. The reliability of the LeaseWeb network has been widely confirmed, as evidenced in a study conducted by WebHostingStuff.com, in which the network enjoys an uptime measurement of 99.99 percent. Founded in 1997, hosting provider LeaseWeb now manages 11,000 servers. Its customers include Starbucks, Hyves, Telegraaf Media Groep, Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé, PricewaterhouseCoopers, AVRO, Direct Wonen, and Univé.