Server efficiency,‎ ‎redefined by‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ Windows Server 2025

If you work in IT, you know the pressure: deliver more performance, reduce costs, and keep energy use under control – all at once.

Scaling with more hardware used to be the easy path. Now, optimization is the smarter one, and it’s powered by technology designed to make every cycle and every watt count.

Windows Server 2025 is central to that shift. It’s built to run leaner, scale smarter, and help businesses meet today’s demands without overspending or overconsuming. Paired with modern Lenovo ThinkSystem servers, it forms a foundation designed for efficiency today and growth tomorrow.

🆕 New optimizers in Windows Server 2025

Three new improvements in Windows Server 2025 are helping IT teams do more with the resources they already have:

• Hyper-V is more scalable with support for up to 4 PB memory and 2,048 logical processors per host.
• Storage enhancements include better NVMe performance and advanced compression technologies.
• GPU partitioning (GPU-P) lets multiple virtual machines share the power of a single GPU, increasing utilization and reducing idle time.

These are more than technical tweaks. They free up capacity and help businesses save on scarce GPUs and energy costs.

⚙ Scalability with Hyper-V

While Hyper-V is no longer being made available as a free standalone version, it is foundational in Microsoft technologies. In fact, Microsoft Azure, Xbox, and Windows 11 are all powered by Hyper-V.

So, it’s not surprising that Hyper-V is also an integral part of Windows Server 2025.

In Windows Server 2025, Hyper-V now supports up to 4 petabytes of memory and 2,048 logical processors per host when using Generation 2 VMs. This increase allows for greater scalability and performance for virtualized workloads.

💾 Storage enhancements

While everybody talks about AI these days, data is the fuel that drives AI. And for AI data we need more storage and IOPs. More efficient use of storage hardware, especially flash and NVMe types, leads to better throughput, lower latency, and less waste.

Windows Server 2025 delivers in all these areas:

• Up to 60% more NVMe IOPS performance compared to Windows Server 2022.
• Storage Replica compression reduces the amount of data transferred over the network during replication.
• Reduced network load through the use of SMB compression and the LZ4 compression algorithm in file transfers.

⚡ Optimize GPU value with partitions

GPUs are now critical for workloads like AI, analytics and virtual desktops, but they’re expensive to run and sometimes hard to buy. Yet the GPUs already in our servers are often severely under-used. That’s because when a GPU is dedicated to just one VM, it can spend a lot of time idle.

In past Windows Server versions, VMs had to use Direct Device Assignment (DDA, or GPU passthrough). One GPU was assigned for each VM – delivering full power, but low efficiency.

GPU Partitioning (GPU-P) in Windows Server 2025 changes that. It lets multiple VMs share one GPU by splitting it into hardware-isolated partitions. Each VM gets its own dedicated share of the GPU’s compute, memory and encoders, enforced by SR-IOV isolation for predictable performance and security.

There are no fees from Microsoft for using GPU-P, but licensing charges from GPU manufacturers can apply. Check this Microsoft Learn page to find out which are supported.

Benefits include:

• Higher GPU utilization by running multiple workloads on one GPU
• Greater VM density for VDI, AI inference, and other lighter GPU tasks
• Support for live migration and failover clustering because GPU-P workloads can move between hosts with minimal downtime

But the biggest win of all could be reduced spending on GPU hardware and energy bills.

🗄 Efficiency starts with the right hardware

New-generation server hardware is driving new efficiencies, too.

The latest Lenovo ThinkSystem V4 Servers feature the most energy-efficient generation of processors yet, taking performance per watt to new levels.

ThinkSystem V4 also offers optional 6th Gen Lenovo Neptune liquid cooling – which can drive energy savings of up to 40%, whilst boosting server performance and increasing compute power.

It’s the perfect platform for the efficiency-focused features in Windows Server 2025 – helping to reduce power use, unlock more performance, and get more from your hardware footprint.

🌍 Why efficiency now matters more than ever

Server optimization once kept businesses running in times of scarcity. Today it’s back, driven both by necessity and by the opportunity to build smarter, more resilient IT.

Windows Server 2025 and Lenovo ThinkSystem are a great way to amplify this new focus on efficiency – while also simplifying hybrid cloud and reducing downtime.

If you’d like to discuss your server optimization goals, message me directly or contact the Lenovo team.