“If you don’t belong to the cult of Mac, you might ignore OS X Server 10.5, code-named Leopard. That would be a shame, particularly for small and midsize enterprises, even all-Microsoft shops,” Joe Hernick reports for InformationWeek.
“This new server operating system is ready for work. The e-mail platform connects to Active Directory and bundles antivirus and anti-spam functions without pesky client access licenses. A spiffed-up calendar app serves nicely as a group scheduler. VPN services can host 500 users per Intel Xserve. In a first for Apple, IP failover provides high availability, and TimeMachine enables server-based client backup. Leopard Server can even mimic an NT domain controller,” Hernick reports. “And of course, it’s easy to distribute multimedia content online.”
“The Leopard development team significantly overhauled OS X’s mail server, named Mail… [and] iCal has graduated from single-user productivity tool to group scheduler and is now CalDAV-, iTIP-, and iMIP-compliant… these upgrades represent a huge leap for Apple in the corporate marketplace and are a solid platform for future development,” Hernick reports.
“Also of note, Mail and iCal Server are free in 10.5. Probably no one outside Cupertino is going to run an enterprise messaging system on iCal/Mail. But should a small or midsize enterprise look to Leopard as a messaging platform? Yes. The price is right, and installation and management are simple,” Hernick reports. “Apple’s current server platform, Xserve, is a good deal: Two dual-core 64-bit Woodcrest Xeons in a base configuration are bundled with an unlimited client 64-bit server OS for less than $3,000, all wrapped in a pretty 1U case.”
“On the whole, this is a substantial upgrade to Apple’s server offering, and we recommend that shops running 10.4 investigate. We also think non-Apple SMEs should take a look, whether as a mail server, for collaboration, or to facilitate the creation and distribution of multimedia content. OS X 10.5 Leopard is $499 for 10 clients, and $999 unlimited,” Hernick reports.
More in the full article, which also looks at some issues and areas of support that Apple should broaden, here.
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