Windows BranchCache OS requirements

I was asked at the Windows Intelligence event I presented at on Monday if there were specific requirements on what version of Windows 7 could be used with BranchCache. It turns out there are, you can only use Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate Editions to take advantage of BranchCache - even if you are doing a workgroup configuration and not a domain.

The step by step guide has the requirements for both the client and the server and can be found here.

It appears that Microsoft is assuming small and medium sized companies should be using Enterprise or Ultimate Editions to take advantage of newer technologies like BranchCache and DirectAccess. I will ask around to see if this will be changing at all in the future and post back up what I hear. I am a bit surprised to read that Windows 7 Professional didn't make the cut for BranchCache as a feature but licensing is a complicated thing that honestly I think very few folks truly understand, even within Microsoft.
- Ed

Windows Intelligence DirectAccess and BranchCache presentations

I had a fun time yesterday presenting on Microsoft DirectAccess and BranchCache at the Windows Intelligence NorCal event. Thank you to everyone who attended the event, I appreciate the discussion and feedback and as promised here are the slide decks for download.

DirectAccess

BranchCache

If you attended my sessions you might have missed sessions by Jennelle Crothers and Steve Evens who both gave excellent presentations from what I heard (I was giving mine so I couldn't be in two places at the same time!) and should be making their presentations available on their sites also. Doug Spindler also presented but I am not sure where his presentations are posted but I will find out and update here shortly.

It was also nice to see the West Coast Microsoft DPE IT Pro Evangelists at the event, Chris Henley, Chris Avis and Harold Wong. They are all wonderful presenters and totally passionate about what they do - a big shout out to them - you guys rock!
- Ed

PacITPros BranchCache presentation posted

The presentation I gave on BranchCache has been posted up on the PacITPros website here and the MS slide deck content is here. There were some questions about Active Directory requirements and I will post some clarifications requirements on that shortly. VMworld is still going on and there are a lot of options happening in the Cloud area that IT Pros should be keeping an eye on as they start to virtualize their environments and are looking for DR/BC options.
- Ed

Microsoft BranchCache - why it matters

I will be presenting at the next www.PacITPros.org meeting on Microsoft's Better Together story for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. I am going to specifically focus on a new feature in the product(s) called BranchCache. BranchCache is a very interesting approach on Microsoft's part to leverage a client/server OS to perform file caching and pre-positioning functions that traditionally has been approached in the network via appliance solutions.

While BranchCache does not address WAN acceleration and optimization, which many of the network appliance solutions target, it does take care of the file caching portion. For many smaller businesses that is the bulk of traffic in either their VPN or WAN networks. The fact that this is an included feature of the OS just shows how (IMHO) Microsoft is pushing more and more services into software and eliminating the need of special network devices.

I think this just demonstrates the fundamental difference in a company like Cisco who is pushing more services and functions into the network and "cloud" compared to a company like Microsoft who is enabling their operating system to perform and optimize on its own. To be honest, I have no idea who is going to win this one.

I think the challenge will be for Microsoft to play better in an inhomogeneous OS environment, it might mean giving away some of its designs and models and perhaps some code to erode away at positions that clearly favor intelligence in the network. Microsoft is all about software and Cisco is all about network - this I believe is the long term battle that most IT professionals are overlooking today.
- Ed