Microsoft releases high-end version of Windows 10 Pro

Microsoft has unveiled a high-end version of its Windows 10 Pro operating system aimed at power users.

Windows 10 Pro for Workstations is intended for use with desktops and laptops featuring up to four physical Intel Xeon and AMD Opteron server-class processors.

It has expanded large-memory support, and can use up to 6TB of RAM, Microsoft said. In comparison, the existing 64-bit version of Windows 10 Pro can handle up to 2TB of system memory in a computer.

Among the new features is support for non-volatile dual inline memory modules (NVDIMM-N). These are normal DIMMs backed up to NAND flash memory so stored user data persists even when the computer is switched off.

Where the existing Windows 10 Pro operating system defaults to the older NTFS file system - the first version of which was introduced in 1993 with Windows NT - the Workstation variant comes with the new resilient file system (ReFS).

ReFS arrived with Windows Server 2012 and is intended to replace NTFS as Microsoft's default operating system.

Code-named Protogon, ReFS has better support for large storage volumes than NTFS. It also offers automatic integrity checking, copy-on-write, data scrubbing and degradation protection, and does away with the need to run CHKDSK for volume repairs.

Windows 10 Pro for Workstations also supports remote direct memory access (RDMA) available in high-end network adapters through the SMB Direct feature in the operating system.

SMB Direct provides high-speed, low-latency file sharing with low processor utilisation for fast file transfers of large data sets.

Microsoft did not reveal how Windows 10 Pro for Workstations will be licensed and how much it will cost, but said it will be available this spring as part of the creators update release of the operating system.