Apple today announced , the second generation of Apple's asset management, software distribution and help desk support software. Version 2 offers "dramatic" improvements in screen sharing performance as well as more than 50 new features for centrally managing Mac OS X systems. Remote Desktop 2 includes a wide range of desktop management tasks such as installing operating system and application software, running hardware and software inventory reports and executing commands on remote Macs. It will be available in July for $300 (up to 10 systems) or $500 (unlimited systems). Special education pricing is also available.

"With Apple Remote Desktop 2, we've delivered a powerful suite of IT management tools that includes high-performance, real-time screen sharing," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Apple Remote Desktop 2 is essential for anyone managing a group of Macs."




Apple Remote Desktop 2 includes Remote software installation tools to install single or multiple software packages immediately or at specific dates and times. It also features comprehensive hardware and software reports based on more than 200 system information attributes as well as built-in real-time screen sharing for observing and controlling the desktops of any remote Mac or Virtual Network Computing (VNC)-enabled computer, including Windows and Linux systems.



Apple Remote Desktop also features task-lists for a "at-a-glance view" of the status of running, queued and completed tasks, remote shell script execution, including new command-line tools for setting network, energy saver, date and time system preferences. It can perform common Mac OS X functions, such as opening files and applications, emptying trash, logging out and locking the screen simultaneously on multiple Mac OS X systems.




Rendezvous-enabled Network Scanners simplify the discovery of Mac OS X systems on the network. Administrators also can now quickly search for computers using Rendezvous, by specifying a range of network addresses or by importing a list of machines from a text file. Other functions include offline reporting, User Access mode, and remote boot disk selection.