Snow Leopard Server to provide iPhone backend
updated 12:45 pm EDT, Fri April 24, 2009
S. Lep Server and iPhone
Snow Leopard Server will provide corporate iPhone support previously only available through third-party software, investigation is said to show. The OS has been slated to receive a remote access feature for sometime, but details in a WWDC session preview appear to confirm that a component called the Mobile Access Server will give iPhones the ability to retrieve corporate e-mail, contacts, calendars and web services without a VPN connection. Currently, only Cisco and Microsoft VPN servers are supported for secure access.
Sources claim that the Apple technology is based on the concept of a proxy server, offering tighter security screening without forcing clients to connect manually. Caching and content filtering are said to be provided, along with a "reverse proxy" that ensures SSL-certified encryption of outgoing e-mail and web content. Supported formats are known to include IMAP, SMTP, HTTP and CalDAV.
Corporations may find the technology attractive mainly due to cost, as Snow Leopard Server could theoretically substitute for the common combination of Exchange, SharePoint and Windows Server in supporting cellphones. Owners of Microsoft enterprise software must also typically the pay the company in terms of per-user client licenses, rapidly inflating expenses as a business grows. It is unclear however to what extent non-Apple devices may be supported by Snow Leopard.
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this could lead to being able to being able to manage an iPhone remotely and being able to update firmware remotely. This could be huge if the iPhone or iPod Touch could be updated from a corporate center. Sorry if I don't really understand the or miss the significance of this ability.
I like the idea of Leopard Server being able to put an end run around Microsoft products. I would be another reason for corporations to buy Apple products.