Apple pushing into server, storage, ISP markets

Apple has been making inroads into the server, storage and ISP markets. According to Computer Dealer News, Apple's strong brand and core server products have helped it break into the IT world: "Over the past couple of years, Apple has been dipping its toes into the server and storage markets. Now it's wading deeper, looking for new customers and engaging the channel in new business opportunities. The article notes that Mac OS X Tiger Server is helping these markets find solutions for e-mail, network services, collaboration services and research computing by touting the built-in open-source tools (Apache, SquirrelMail, SpamAssassin, etc.), support for 64-bit applications, iChat Server secure instant messaging, Weblog Server for publishing Weblogs and Xgrid to turn a group of Macs into a supercomputer.

Working with its loyal customer base and leveraging the 64-bit "Tiger" server platform, Apple is trying to position its servers and storage to fit into all the tiers, including mission critical applications. Last summer, Oracle announced the availability of its 10g database on Mac OS 10.3 (Panther) and is now in the testing phase with Tiger, according to the report. One reseller has reportedly created new business opportunities by integrating Mac clients with Microsoft's Active Directory environment, building a bridge between the two that didn't exist before. Stephan Pinheiro, president of Montreal-based resellers Mac 911 and humanIT said, "It's no longer an excuse, period," when referring to the company's corporate policy management which is based on Active Service Directory.

Filed under: enterprise
Other story tags: servers