Microsoft gave a sneak preview Tuesday of new functionality in Windows Server 2003 R2, an update to Windows Server that the vendor plans to ship next year. During a keynote presentation by Corporate Vice President Andy Lees at the Tech Ed conference here in San Diego, Microsoft demonstrated an early version of R2, which has not yet reached the beta stage.
The demonstration included the following:
- A hub and spoke topology model in concert with "remote differential compression" (RDC) technology to make branch communication more effective by reducing the amount of data transferred between the branch server and the main office server. RDC offers the ability to only transfer a change made in a file when replicating instead of the entire file. The hub and spoke model is part of Version 2 of the Windows Server file replication services, which in Version 1 already offered full mesh replication.
- Client inspection and isolation technology to help shield a corporate network. Administrators can ensure a computer joining the network meets security and configuration requirements, such as up to date virus protection and patches.
- Active Directory Federation Services, formerly code-named TrustBridge, designed to allow users to federate identities between corporate boundaries.
- Anywhere Access, a technology to give users access to e-mail and other services on a corporate network without the need for a VPN (virtual private network). Microsoft sees Anywhere Access as complementary to VPN, not a replacement, a spokesman said.
News source: InfoWorld
