What is SharePoint?

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 makes it easier for people to work together. Using SharePoint 2010, your people can set up Web sites to share information with others, manage documents from start to finish, and publish reports to help everyone make better decisions.

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/product/capabilities/Pages/default.aspx

Why Use SharePoint?

The capabilities of SharePoint 2010 work together to help your company quickly respond to changing business needs. Using SharePoint 2010, your people can share ideas and expertise, create custom solutions for specific needs, and find the right business information to make better decisions. For IT, SharePoint 2010 helps you cut training and maintenance costs, save time and effort, and focus on higher business priorities.

SharePoint 2010 for IT Professionals

SharePoint 2010 delivers a powerful, easy-to-deploy infrastructure that can help you make your company more productive. Flexible deployment options let you customize the system so that people can do their jobs effectively in a secure environment. Plus, with centralized administration and management features, you can be confident knowing that you maintain control over a system that is ready to respond to any business need.

For more information go to this link

sharepoint for administrators

Hardware Requirements

Processor	64-bit, four cores
RAM	4 GB for developer or evaluation use 8 GB for production use in a single server or multiple server farm
Hard disk	80 GB for system drive (varies for production environment depending upon the size on the application)

Software Requirements

*Operating System*	*Windows Server 2008 (64-bit) Standard, Enterprise, Data Center, or Web Server with SP2, Windows 7, Vista* *Windows Server 2008 (64-bit) R2 Standard, Enterprise, Data Center, or Web Server, Windows 7, Vista*
Database Server	Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (64-bit) R2 Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (64-bit) with Service Pack 1 and Cumulative Update 2 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (64-bit) SP2
Prerequisite Softwares which are installed by preparation tool	Web Server (IIS) role Application Server role Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.5 SP1 SQL Server 2008 Express with SP1 Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 (x64) Microsoft Filter Pack 2.0 Microsoft Chart Controls for the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Windows PowerShell 2.0 SQL Server 2008 Native Client Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services ADOMD.NET ADO.NET Data Services Update for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 A hotfix for the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 that provides a method to support token * authentication without transport security or message encryption in WCF. Windows Identity Foundation (WIF)