Target's new virtual reality

REDMOND, Wash.-- Target has enlisted the services of Microsoft to help run business-critical workloads for all its retail stores on 15,000 virtual machines using Microsoft virtualization and management technologies, giving its IT department greater agility and economies of scale, Microsoft announced. According to Microsoft, Target is using Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and Microsoft System Center to virtualizeinventory, point-of-sale, supply-chain management, asset protection, in-store digital media and more.

"Target's investment in Hyper-V is a result of the strong technology partnership between our two companies," said Jeff Mader, VP Target technology services. "With Hyper-V, Target can reduce our stores' server footprints without sacrificing the mission-critical application performance that contributes to a superior retail experience for our guests."

Target joins other Microsoft customers and partners at the Microsoft Management Summit 2011, which runs today through March 25. More details on Target's use of Microsoft virtualization and management are available at http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies.

Click here to see what Brad Thompson and Fritz DeBrine from Target have to say about the Microsoft arrangement.