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SharePoint Server - TechNet Articles - United States (English) - TechNet Wiki

SharePoint Server 2010 is the business collaboration platform for the enterprise and the Web. The platform empowers people and enables them to connect through an integrated set of rich features. This common collaboration environment provides a unified infrastructure, which helps organizations cut costs while allowing them to rapidly respond to business needs. SharePoint Server 2010 can be deployed onsite (also called on-premises) or as hosted services, and can bet">

SharePoint Server

SharePoint Server 2010 is the business collaboration platform deployed by using virtualization technology or live instances. Whether on-premises or hosted, deploying SharePoint Server requires the IT pro to be heavily involved. Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 includes a large number of improvements to features that the administrator is familiar with, and it also includes many new features.

Specifically, SharePoint Server 2010 provides the IT pro with:

  • IT pro productivity by improving the administrative experience and by giving the administrator deeper operational insight. This increase in productivity is facilitated by a new, streamlined Central Administration Web site, new capabilities to manage and monitor the SharePoint farm, and Windows PowerShell™ support, just to name a few features.
  • Scalable unified infrastructure that includes better control over server resources (for example, to improve the performance and management of large lists) and data management and protection by using high availability. We have also introduced a new scalable services architecture that allows you to effectively manage and centralize services like Search, My Sites, and Taxonomy. These service applications can be managed through Central Administration, and they can be managed and scripted by using Windows PowerShell as well. The new services architecture is extensible, so third-party companies can build services and add them to the platform.
  • Flexible deployment by providing a quick and simple installation and configuration process. The upgrade from Office SharePoint Server 2007 is smooth and predictable. We’ve also introduced functionality that allows you to manage how your users use SharePoint. For example, you can now safely allow site administrators to upload custom user code by using Sandboxed Solutions. You also have more governance control: If you want to maintain a centralized SharePoint deployment versus a more decentralized approach, you can either block those deployments through Group Policy or track them by using Active Directory® marker support.
SharePoint Server 2010 provides a very large number of features, and a detailed accounting of each feature is well beyond the scope of this document. This guide will describe some of the most compelling improvements and new additions to the SharePoint Server 2010 platform for IT pros. With this evaluation guide, the IT pro will be able to properly evaluate these new features and readily describe their capabilities to their colleagues, clients, and business partners.

Next, we will briefly discuss a summary of the new features, followed by a brief summary of how these features can be used to achieve functions such as governance and high availability. Then we will move on to the details of each of the pertinent features.