Microsoft is taking a stand on an emerging technology that threatens to reshape software pricing models.
The company on Monday is expected to detail changes to its server product licensing to better accommodate virtualization software, an emerging technology that big companies are eyeing as a way to consolidate servers and cut costs.
Advocates argue that virtualization lets companies reduce the number of servers they need by letting jobs run more efficient on a smaller number of machines. Virtualization software such as Microsoft"s Virtual Server, EMC"s VMware and XenSource"s Xen lets a server simultaneously run multiple operating systems, or multiple instances of the same operating system. Each instance essentially behaves as a self-contained computer.