Apple's Snow Leopard Server backs iPhone clients
Apple has revealed further details of the new Mac OS X Server software, adding
support for a new file system and collaboration tools designed for businesses
looking to use the iPhone as a client device.
The new server OS, code-named Snow
Leopard Server, is built on the Unix OS and is an upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5
Server, code-named Leopard Server.
The server software was announced Monday at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference,
where Apple also revealed a few details of a new client OS, code-named Snow
Leopard.
The Snow Leopard Server improves on existing collaboration tools from the older
Leopard server software, allowing tools like wikis and blogs to be designed
for viewing on the iPhone, Apple said. The new server OS includes a feature
called "My Page," providing clients a central place to access Web
applications.
The new server software also adds support for the ZFS
file system, which was originally designed by Sun for use in the Solaris
OS. The 128-bit file system will provide capabilities to pool storage, expand
volumes and automatically correct errors, according to Apple.
A new Mail Server includes an overhauled engine to better handle connections.
Targeted at small businesses, the mail server improvements include better server-side
e-mail rules and vacation messages. Snow Leopard Server also has a new Address
Book Server, which is based on open standards and allows clients to share contacts
and calendars.
The Snow Leopard Server's updated Podcast Producer 2 has a new workflow editor
for users to create and publish podcasts, Apple said. Another new feature on
the software is the Podcast Library, through which users can create a podcast
store and sell locally stored podcasts through RSS.
Beyond multimedia enhancements, the new server OS is designed to better support
processor cores, which lays the groundwork to enable better system performance
through future versions of Mac OS X Server software, Apple said.
Multicore systems are driving system performance, and the Snow Leopard Server's
Grand Central technologies help the server software better allocate tasks across
multiple cores while saving power, Apple said. Developers can use Grand Central
to develop and optimize programs for multicore systems, Apple said.
Developers will also be able to enhance application performance through Snow
Leopard's OpenCL (Open Compute Library) technology, which can redirect data
processing from a CPU to a graphics processing unit (GPU). The processing speeds
of GPUs are approaching a trillion operations a second and "they're capable
of considerably more than just drawing pictures," Apple said on its Web
site. The technology could be useful for development of genomics and video-encoding
applications, Apple said.
The Snow Leopard Server's new 64-bit kernel technology allows a server to "theoretically"
have up to 16T bytes of memory, which can boost system performance and allow
for more network connections.
IDG News Service
Symantec Backup Exec 12 and Backup Exec System Recovery 8 deliver industry leading Windows data protection and system recovery. Download this whitepaper to find out the top reasons to upgrade and how to get continuous data protection and complete system recovery.
Data and system loss — from a hard drive failure, malicious attack, natural disaster, or simple human error — can happen anytime. Don’t leave your business vulnerable. Make sure you have a secure recovery strategy in place. Symantec's latest backup and system recovery technology can efficiently restore critical applications, individual emails and documents and even restore your entire system in minutes in the event of a loss.
Businesses face a growing challenge to ensure that the IT environment is properly protected. Backup Exec 12 integrates with other applications in the Symantec family of products, to complement your current data protection strategy, keep your data securely backed up and make it recoverable when you need it most.
VMware ESX Server in the Enterprise
By Edward L. Haletky
Published Dec 29, 2007 by Prentice Hall.
Enter now! | Official rules | Sample chapter
Green IT
By Toby Velte, Anthony Velte, Robert C. Elsenpeter
To be published Oct. 10, 2008 by McGraw Hill Professional
Enter now! | Official rules | About the book
