The release of any Microsoft operating system is always an important crossroads for IT decision-makers, and Windows Server 2016 is proving to be no exception. With Windows Server 2016, Microsoft has fully embraced the software-defined data center (SDDC) as the model for the cloud era.

While it’s too soon in the product’s lifecycle to look at meaningful market share statistics, the early returns are compelling: As of March 2017, more than 80,000 websites were already being served by Windows Server 2016, an increase of nearly 20,000 from the previous month.

It should be no surprise that IT teams are starting to embrace Microsoft’s latest server operating system, as Windows Server 2016 addresses one of the fundamental challenges facing IT today: delivering on the vast potential of cloud computing without relying solely on public cloud models.