TOP TEN: WINDOWS 8 ENTERPRISE FEATURES

See how Windows 8 meets the needs of
large organizations

A lot has been made and said about how Windows 8, with
its new touch interface, is oriented more toward consumers than toward
businesses. I think it's clear that Microsoft's primary push behind Windows 8 has been toward the consumer, but that
doesn't mean Window 8 features for enterprises are any less compelling. Here
are the top 10 Windows 8 features for large organizations.

10.
Windows 8 Enterprise Edition—Windows
8 Enterprise is the edition that's focused on the needs of larger
organizations. All the features listed in this column are available in Windows
8 Enterprise. If you're interested in a more complete breakdown of the features
in the different Windows 8 editions, check out this excellent
article "Windows 8 Secrets, Beyond the Book:
Guide to Product Editions."

 9.
DirectAccess—First introduced in
Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7, DirectAccess lets remote users access
resources inside your corporate network without having to launch a separate
VPN. DirectAccess makes it easier for users to connect to corporate networks
and for IT departments to keep remote systems in compliance with the latest
policies and software updates. In Windows 8,  DirectAccess can be deployed
with an IPv4 infrastructure.

8.
BranchCache—BranchCache,
introduced with Windows 7, essentially lets branch office servers or local PCs
cache files and other content from remote servers so subsequent file access can
come faster from the local copy. The Windows 8 implementation of BranchCache
streamlines the deployment process and optimizes bandwidth over WAN
connections.

7.
AppLocker—Another Windows 7
enterprise feature that made its way into Windows 8, AppLocker lets you specify
which users or groups can run particular applications in your organization
based on unique identities of files. When you use AppLocker, you create rules
to allow or deny applications from running. Windows 8 AppLocker can restrict
Windows 8 apps (formerly called Metro-style apps) and regular desktop
applications.

6.
RemoteFX—RemoteFX in Windows 8
and Windows Server 2012 provides support for remote touch and USB devices.
RemoteFX provides host-side rendering of graphics-intensive workloads and is
important for supporting rich virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)
environments. Windows 8 RemoteFX multi-touch lets you run Windows 8 desktops in
a VDI environment with complete support for the new touch-enabled UI.

5. Secure
Boot—The Windows 8 Secure Boot
feature prevents unsecured operating systems from loading during the start-up
process. The Secure Boot feature takes advantage of the Unified Extensible
Firmware Interface (UEFI) to store certificates that identify secure operating
systems that can load during the boot process, preventing malware such as
rootkits from loading when the system boots up.

4.
BitLocker—BitLocker was
introduced with Windows Vista, but it was restricted to the Enterprise edition
and above. With Windows 8, BitLocker support is now in both the Windows 8
Professional and Enterprise editions. The new version can protect system drives
and removable drives, as well as Cluster Shared Volumes and SAN storage. You
can find more detailed information about the new Windows 8 BitLocker features
in "BitLocker Changes in Windows 8."

3. Windows
To Go—All new with Windows 8,
the Windows To Go workspaces feature lets you create a bootable and fully
manageable Windows 8 desktop on a USB drive. Windows To Go requires the Windows
8 Enterprise edition. When you boot a system with a Windows To Go USB drive,
that system's internal hard disks are taken offline—any
Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is not used, hibernate is disabled, and the
Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) is not available. You can enable
BitLocker protection for a Windows To Go workspace. You can learn more about
Windows To Go from the Microsoft TechNet article "Windows To Go: Feature Overview."

2.
Scalability—Windows 8 supports
maximum memory configurations that were formerly available only in the realm of
servers. Windows 8 Core supports up to 128GB of RAM on the x64 platform.
Windows 8 Professional and Windows 8 Enterprise both support up to 512GB on the
x64 platform. The x86 versions of Windows 8 support a maximum of 4GB of RAM.
Windows 8 supports a maximum of two physical CPUs, but the number of logical
processors or cores varies based on the processor architecture. A maximum of 32
cores is supported in 32-bit versions of Windows 8, whereas up to 256 cores are
supported in the 64-bit versions.

1. Client
Hyper-V—Apart from the UI
changes, the most significant enhancement in Windows 8 is its support for
Client Hyper-V. The Windows 8 Professional and Enterprise editions provide the
same hypervisor technology that's in Server 2012. Client Hyper-V requires a
minimum of 4GB of RAM and support for Second Level Address Translation (SLAT).
With Client Hyper-V, you can move VMs between Server 2012 and Windows 8
Hyper-V. Windows 8 Client Hyper-V is also laptop-friendly: Closing the lid to
your laptop and putting it to sleep causes Client Hyper-V to save the state of
all your running VMs. You can get more details about Client Hyper-V from the Microsoft TechNet article "Client Hyper-V."