With a 10-year lag behind VMware in the virtualization realm, Microsoft certainly had its work cut out for it with the release of its next-generation virtualization technology, Hyper-V. But now that it has been released, just what does Hyper-V have to offer?

In this transcript, senior enterprise IT architect Nelson Ruest breaks down the seven different layers of the server virtualization architecture, and explains the role the hypervisor plays in the success of that infrastructure. You'll also get details on the key features included with Hyper-V for Windows Server 2008, as well as what's missing from the initial release.