Multiple-site solutions are one facet of the Sitecore ecosystem that I'm intimately familiar with so I'm really looking forward to see how other developers have solved the problems that tend to crop up.
The talk began by focusing on problems that multiple sites produce such as user/group management, deployment problems across multiple regions and disparate code management.
For as long as I've been a Sitecore dev I haven't heard a lot about Foundry 4 but it looks like this will be my opportunity. It looks like the focus of foundry is really churning out sites quickly, which I did know but it looks like they've beefed up the amount of customization for each site through individualized domains and styling but apparently it's not suitable for the high level of customization typical in most sites.
The other solution provided will be to create a custom tool optimized for stamping out and managing not just sites with the exact same form as Foundry might do but a will create a much more extensible site system. There will be a core "shared" system and then for each site a duplicate set of the layout, template, system and media library folders, but despite the complex system a solution manager will use, standard content editors will see the standard content tree and will be able to work with no dramatic changes. This is not quite like anything I've ever seen before and I'm really just trying to wrap my mind around what exactly I'm looking at. Tim Ward has a new as of right now who is me.
Now this "Site Manager" not only supports creating stamps types for a site but will also go so far as how each site type will be deployed. This piece alone got a lot stunned looks from the audience because of how complex the sample deployment process was. The tool will tailor packages for this deployment process so that you're no longer packaging up anything and everything but a much leaner, focused package. A huge gain if you've ever struggled with deploying a site across a complex network of servers.
Tim didn't stop there though, there is also a tie-in with Sitecore Rocks. That's right, if you're already making you're life easier using that tool you'll be glad to see this level of support extended.
Now it's really late in the day and my ability to keep up with a presentation this complex is waning but clearly this took a lot of time and effort by a highly talented cyborg named Tim Ward. When Sitecore posts these talks online after the convention I'd recommend following up on this to unearth a truly impressive solution which will serve to inspire a host of other ideas.