In preparation for its February 27 launch, Microsoft rolled out Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate 1 for beta testers on Wednesday.

Customers can download and test Windows Server 2008 at http://www.microsoft.com/ws08eval

Microsoft claims that 1.8 million customers have obtained Windows Server 2008 evaluation code so far.

Windows Server 2008 is the next generation of the Windows Server operating system and an upgrade to the ageing Windows Server 2003.

Key enhancements in Windows Server 2008 include those related to networking,  security features, remote application access, centralized server role management, performance and reliability monitoring tools, failover clustering, deployment and the file system.