BranchCache

In a bid to help office workers struggling with limited bandwidth, Microsoft is introducing BranchCache. The idea is that content from remote file and web servers is cached locally in the branch office – either on a server or distributed across Windows 7 client PCs.

This means, for example, that if one employee spends two minutes downloading a large PowerPoint presentation off the company’s intranet, the next person in the same office will have access to the cached version of the file within seconds. BranchCache will work with any app based on the HTTPS and Server Message Block (SMB) protocols, but requires the company to have rolled out Windows Server 2008 R2.

Thanks to pcauthority.com for the explanation.