Team Foundation Server Enhanced

Visual Studio 2010 includes a new version of the Team Foundation Server (TFS) software development collaboration server. TFS now supports new scale-out deployment configurations, enhances source code control and build capabilities, improves project management and reporting, and simplifies installation and administration. The improvements could give organizations more flexibility, control, and insight into software development projects, although the product will be most appealing for large teams, and it will require SQL Server 2008.

VS enables application life-cycle management: collaboration among architects, developers, testers, and project managers who are designing, coding, testing, deploying, and maintaining applications. (For an illustration, see “VS/TFS Layout“.) TFS provides source-code control, project and build management, and centralized storage for other group development tasks, using a set of SQL Server databases that contain source code, work items, build data, user identities, and other project data. It also supports Office- and Web-based reporting and review of software projects for managers and other stakeholders, while a new product called Visual Studio Team Explorer Everywhere 2010 allows developers on Eclipse-based integrated development environments to connect to TFS. (See the sidebar “TFS Eclipse Integration“.)