Nutanix has announced the general availability of its support for Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V. In this new release, Nutanix becomes a converged infrastructure provider with native support for three leading hypervisors: VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V and KVM. This hypervisor-agnostic approach delivers a common data fabric to power hybrid enterprise datacenters running different workloads across multiple virtualization technologies.

Nutanix’s software-driven architecture delivers high-performance enterprise storage services and rich data analytics that run and scale independent of the virtualization layer. It eliminates the cost and complexity of traditional storage technologies, such as SAN and NAS-based arrays, by converging compute and storage resources into a single, easy-to-deploy appliance.

With support for widely deployed Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 storage and virtualization protocols, Nutanix Virtual Computing Platform provides the broadest range of hypervisor platforms and compatibility for thousands of enterprise workloads, including popular services such as Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange. Additionally, this new release provides a high-performance and storage efficient infrastructure solution for Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp running on Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V. In support of this capability, Nutanix has published a new reference architecture to assist customers deploying Citrix XenDesktop and Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V solutions on the company’s Virtual Computing Platform.

“By offering support for Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V, our customers can now run workloads on the hypervisor of their choice,” said Rajiv Mirani, vice president of engineering, Nutanix. “Native Microsoft support provides feature parity for all datacenter capabilities so there is zero compromise of server or storage functionality regardless of the hypervisor deployed.”

“Microsoft is committed to the success of service providers and enterprises, and Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V delivers industry-leading virtualization and cloud capabilities for the most demanding environments,” said Mike Schutz, general manager, product marketing, Microsoft. “By supporting Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V, Nutanix and Microsoft are working to ensure consistency, scalability, and flexibility in heterogeneous environments that use the Nutanix converged infrastructure platform.” 

“The joint deployment of the Nutanix Virtual Computing Platform with Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V has reduced the total cost of ownership of our datacenter, while also simplifying management and increasing workload capabilities and performance,” commented, Jochen Maertens, CEO, Synergics. 

Pricing and Availability

Support for Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V is available immediately at no cost to new customers and to existing customers with a valid Nutanix support agreement. The Nutanix Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop is available here