Storage

New tool provides Office file compression on the server

I spoke with the folks at Balesio last week about their new file compression tool – FILEminimizer Server. Released earlier this year, the product has seen a lot of action in Europe so far, but is just now starting to pop up in the United States.
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R2’s File Classification Infrastructure generates buzz

Of the many new features set to debut in Windows Server 2008 R2, one that has received a steady amount of attention is the File Classification Infrastructure (FCI).

The inclusion of FCI with R2 came as a surprise to a lot of folks in the IT community. The technology, at least in theory, has been talked about since back in the days of Windows XP, but had been put on the backburner until suddenly BOOM – it was here.

So what’s the word on the street?
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New storage optimization tools launch for Hyper-V

Hyper-V users who are looking to standardize their virtual and non-virtual environments just got a little help. V3.co.uk (formerly Vnunet) is reporting that European firm Diskeeper has just launched a new platform designed to optimize storage for environments running Hyper-V with Windows Server 2008.
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Microsoft introduces Windows Storage Server 2008

Microsoft’s latest version of Windows Storage Server has now hit RTM, with a bunch of new features for Windows 2008. In a recent blog post, Microsoft senior technical product manager Jason Buffington described it as “the Saleen Ford Mustang of file services” (I’m paraphrasing, but check out his post for the full analogy and it will make more sense).

I listened in on a TechNet webcast this morning with Buffington and storage solutions program manager Scott Johnson to learn a little more about what to expect from WSS 2008, which appears to offer quite a few improvements over the file management capabilities already present in Windows Server 2008.

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