Oppenheimer Discusses Windows Server 8

Oppenheimer & Co. is out with a research report on Microsoft MSFT, as the company provided a glimpse at Windows Server 8. It has an Outperform rating on shares. In the note, Oppenheimer & Co. writes, "On Tuesday, MSFT provided its partners with an early preview of Windows Server 8 at its Worldwide Partner Conference. The next edition of Windows Server features over 100 new capabilities and enhancements, including a new Hyper-V hypervisor. During a demo at the conference, MSFT showed off new functionality of its Hyper-V Replica (next edition of its hypervisor). Hyper-V Replica will enable users to "replicate their mission critical database to an offsite data vendor and to replicate unlimitedly without charging additional fees per virtual machine." Management also highlighted that Windows Server 8 is a key building block for customers' private clouds. We note that according to zdnet.com, Windows Server 8 is on the same release track as Windows 8 and could be out as early as the first half of 2012. We expect more information on Windows Server 8 and Windows 8 at the company's Build conference in mid-September." Shares of MSFT closed at $26.54.