WHS: It's always been awesome

Wonderful Windows Home Server functionality that carries over, or is improved, in Windows Home Server 2011
includes:

Automatic, centralized PC backup. PCs that are connected to the server--using the bundled Connector software--are automatically backed up to the server every night. And this isn't a basic file backup, it's a full system backup, so you can restore individual PCs to specific points in time if required. This works for up to 10 client PCs.

Home network health monitoring. WHS monitors the health of all the PCs on the home network, optionally providing alerts to connected PCs so that admin-level users can address any issues immediately. This functionality is like the Windows 7 Action Center, but it applies to all PCs on the home network.

Digital music, video, photo sharing. As a home product, WHS has always made it easy to centrally store and share your digital media content across the home network to connected PCs and to devices like the Xbox 360.

Document (file) sharing. WHS also provides Windows Server-based file services, so you can access various document types from a central location.

Remote access to individual PCs and to the server. WHS provides various levels of remote access, including remote desktop-style access to individual PCs, web-based access to any shared folders on the server, and remote access to the WHS management console.
What's new in WHS 2011

So that stuff has all been in WHS for years. WHS 2011, as you might expect, includes some new capabilities. And again, before getting to the storage-related stuff, let's review of these improvements:

Automatic, centralized PC backup. Now, as part of the server backup process, you can also backup your PC backups. So if you backup to external USB storage, you can now easily store your PC backups offsite too. Additionally, you can choose to "archive" backups for PCs that have been removed from the server (by uninstalling the Connector software). These archived backups are not included in the 10 client PC limit for WHS.

Digital music, video, photo sharing. WHS 2011 is now DLNA compatible out of the box, so there's no more need for third party add-ins to get a first-class media sharing experience. For you Windows 7 users, WHS 2011 also supports Home Group-style media sharing, and it can stream a much wider range of media formats, while also offering on-the-fly transcoding for those times when a client can't handle a particular format.

Remote access. WHS remote access is now based on Silverlight, providing a higher-quality experience and, it should be noted, mobile device support. WHS 2011 also includes a new remote streaming feature that lets you stream media from your home server over the Internet, perfect for travellers like myself. You can also personalize your web-based remote access home page for a customized experience.

Windows Phone 7 support. WHS 2011 explicitly supports Windows Phone 7 devices via a new Windows Phone add-in, providing media streaming, phone-to-server photo uploading, and alert monitoring functionality. As a dedicated WP7 user, this is an area I'll be paying particular attention to in the future.

Mac support. WHS 2011 also explicitly supports Macs running Mac OS X, so you can configure automatic backups of these machines, run the LaunchPad on connected Macs, and utilize remote access.