This is a major re-work of the Windows server platform designed to make it more scalable, resilient and flexible. It will thus be of most interest to large enterprises intending to go build private clouds, although those with more modest needs will find value in features such as storage pooling and the revamped hypervisor.

Pros:
Server Manager tool; Hyper-V 3.0; VM failover; SMB 3 file sharing; Resilient File System; Storage spaces, pooling and thin provisioning

Cons:
Metro user interface a major upheaval; some features only available if Windows Server 2012 is widely deployed by an organisation