A new survey shows that 17% of IT pros are already planning now for Windows Server 2008 upgrades and that 63% expect to eventually adopt the server.

The Windows Server 2008 Tracking Poll, conducted by Walker Information for IT services and product supplier CDW, also showed that security, setup/configuration improvements and virtualization were key benefits identified by the 772 IT respondents from small business, medium/large businesses, state/local governments, higher education and K-12 education.

The key concerns among respondents were typical for a new operating system from Microsoft with bugs (48%), application compatibility (41%) and hardware compatibility (28%) toping the list.

“As with Vista, we think people will go through a rigorous process of evaluation and follow a very methodical path,” said David Cottingham, director of product and partner management at CDW. “A server operating system is at the core and has some even greater critical components than a desktop operating system.”

Cottingham says the Windows Server 2008 Tracking Poll may be the first in a series. The company tracked attitudes toward Vista in three separate surveys beginning in November 2006 and ending in January 2008.

Microsoft plans to ship Windows Server 2008 which has been five years in development, to volume licensing customers Feb. 27. That day, Microsoft is hosting a launch event in Los Angeles that also includes Visual Studio 2008 (shipped Nov. 2007) and SQL Server 2008 (slated to ship before June 30, 2008).

The release comes on the heels of the one-year anniversary of the launch of Windows Vista, which is built on the same code base as Windows Server 2008. The two can be paired up on certain technologies, most notably Network Access Protection.

The survey, however, showed that 66% of respondents see no link between their Vista and Windows Server 2008 upgrades. Of those that did see a link, 22% said they will upgrade Vista first and 6% said they would migrate to the server first.

The survey was conducted when Windows Server 2008 Beta 3 and the RC0 versions were available for evaluation.

The survey also found that virtualization is a hot topic and that users are not waiting for Microsoft. The survey shows that 62% of respondents have already implemented server virtualization (35%), are evaluating the opportunity (18%) or making plans to implement within the next 12 months (9%).