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Microsoft SharePoint add-ons offer tantalizing system tweaks

SharePoint 2010 may be on Microsoft's immediate road map, but users churning away on the current 2007 platform can still juice their rollouts with a host of add-ons that make the existing version seem new again.

From administrative tools to storage options, life-cycle management and migration wares, the task of pushing SharePoint to another level doesn't mean eyeing 2010's feature set, which includes a new platform theme, along with integration of Visual Studio development tools, a revamped SharePoint Designer, new social computing features, a more secure runtime environment for application components and a set of cloud-based APIs that open SharePoint to technology's hottest trend.

With 2010's ship date not until May at the earliest, here is a look at a half dozen tools that can make SharePoint 2007 (or earlier) sing. And not to leave 2010 completely out of the equation, the vendors of these tools have provided a stay-tuned peek at what they plan to do on the new platform.

BlueThread (Storage)
BlueThread offers a storage add-on for SharePoint to improve content management by moving data off the platform's traditional SQL Server storage repository.

BlueThread's StoragePoint for SharePoint plugs into the Microsoft server and lets users configure endpoints by site collection or Web applications so they use different storage nodes located either on-premises or in the cloud.

StoragePoint offers an interface to redirect where Binary Large Object (BLOB) I/O are stored. Traditionally, BLOBs are stored in SQL Server (SharePoint's back end).

From a SharePoint perspective there is really no operational or functional difference," says Rob D'Oria, CTO of BlueThread. "Uses can move content that is not mission critical off to second or third tier storage" that is less expensive.

The only thing stored in the SQL Server database is metadata, which ensures that indexing and other functions are not interrupted.

D'Oria says StoragePoint can reduce the size of an SQL Server database by 95% to 98%, and the technology offers compression and data encryption.

In 2010, BlueThread will tap into the SQL interface coming in SharePoint 2010 called Remote BLOB Storage (RBS) to provide a second interface for externalizing content.