beta @ amanzi

The most exciting product announced during Bill Gates’s keynote presentation today at CES was Microsoft’s new server product for home users called Windows Home Server. This is not just a server product rebranded for home users, Microsoft have really created an innovated product which aims to solve all of the storage problems that home users have.

The storage capabilities of Windows Home Server (WHS) have been designed so that any average computer user can administer the system. There are no drive letters to worry about as all connected storage is aggregated into one large storage pool. All the home user has to do, is to add additional storage when needed and run a simple wizard to import the storage into the pool. Data is automatically distributed across all storage devices and redundant copies of files are also stored across all the storage devices. These devices can be 500GB hard drives or 60GB USB drives, it doesn’t matter they all belong to the pool. This also means that the storage is as expandable as your hardware allows – even up to Petabytes! If you want to remove a device from the storage pool, another wizard steps you through the required steps. No knowledge of RAID or related technologies is needed, and all management is done through a simple web interface.

WHS can also be configured to maintain backups of all computers in the household using new image-based backup technologies. Single instance storage (SIS) is configured so that only one copy of each file is needed to be stored in the storage pool, drastically reducing the amount of space required. Backups can be configured to run automatically and will work on Windows XP and Windows Vista computers.

Microsoft have also implemented a feature that will allow WHS users to access their server over the internet using a new Windows Live service. This means that users can upload photos to their home servers from anywhere in the world, and you can easily access files that you left at home before leaving on your travels.

The home servers are designed from the ground up to be both reliable and easy to use. WHS is designed as a headless unit which means that it can be connected to your network without needing a monitor, keyboard or mouse. I’m not too sure how well this will work as all Microsoft products I have encountered require an operator to be sitting in front of the console at some point – for example, how do you configure the network address for the unit so that it connects to your network?

Overall, this is an exciting product – but you’ll have to wait a bit longer before getting your hands on it. A limited beta program will begin shortly with the final version being released in the second half of 2007. Keep checking back here as we will aim to bring you some more details as soon as we can.

Paul Thurrott has the best information so far here.

Other interesting links here:

• Microsoft blogger, Charlie Kindel, has been working on WHS for 3 years now.
• Channel 10 coverage here.
• Official Microsoft site – www.stopdigitalamnesia.com

Other Microsoft blogs mentioning Windows Home Server:

• Official Windows Home Server blog here
• Just announced the secret Windows Home Server
• Windows Home Server – Its Announced
• Windows Home Server Announcement
• Windows Home Server is announced