Kanaka: Single Sign-on to eDirectory
Condrey Consulting Corp. has released Kanaka, a plug-in for Mac OS X user that provides single sign-on desktop access to NetWare services. Kanaka uses LDAP to authenticate Mac OS X users to Novell’s eDirectory, thereby providing access to home directory and collaborative storage locations.

White Paper Published: Porting VB Apps to Linux and Mac
“A how-to guide for Visual Basic developers to port [VB] code to Linux and/or Macintosh using REAL Software's REALbasic.”

LinuxWorld Likes Mac OS X Server... A Lot (pdf)
In the July, 2004 Issue, Editor-in-Chief Martin Striecher says: “I can only say that I'm blown away. Panther Server is a joy to use.” He concludes: “BOTTOM LINE: Must Buy.”

FirstClass 8.0: The Biggest Feature Release Yet
FirstClass is an award winning suite of integrated communication and messaging services. Version 8.0 includes the First Class Directory Services module, which facilitates the integration of FirstClass into enterprise meta-directory environments including LDAP and Microsoft Active Directory.

New IDC Report (pdf)
Leading industry analyst firm IDC states Apple has never been better positioned to capture the K-12 education market. Download their white paper and see how IT managers are deploying Apple technology in their infrastructure.

A Look at QuickTime Streaming Server
Computerworld takes QTSS for a test drive and finds “Apple has again delivered enterprise power at a consumer price.”

Xsan Announced
Now under development, Apple's Xsan lets multiple computers concurrently access terabytes of storage on Xserve RAID over high-speed Fibre Channel. Apple will ship Xsan later this fall for $999. You may wish to participate in the Xsan beta program.

PowerSchool Announces Major Upgrade
PowerSchool, a division of Apple and maker of the web-based, single-server Macintosh and Windows compatible student information system (SIS), has announced PowerSchool SIS version 2004. The upgrade is one of the most significant of PowerSchool’s recent versions, including features to support complex scheduling, reporting, NCLB and SIF.

Business Week on Apple's “Spoken Interface”
“The price is sweet... Screen readers for Windows can run up to $1,000, on top of the cost of the computer itself... That makes owning a Mac a bargain for the visually disabled.”

Case Study: Lincoln Public Schools
50 schools. 2500 teachers. 32,000 students. Mixed Mac and Windows clients. Wired and wireless.

Apple Workgroup Cluster Wins Best of Show
The Apple Workgroup Cluster for Bioinformatics won a Best of Show award at Bio-IT World Conference + Expo.

Computerworld Reviews Apple Xserve RAID
Author Ryan Fass finds that for those who need network storage and performance, the Xserve RAID “has all the hallmarks of being a great product.”

Integrating Panther Server
In this Computerworld article, author Yuval Kossovsky details the building of Panther server as an Open Directory Master and a Windows Primary Domain Controller (PDC).

Mac OS X “Safe and Secure”
The British cyber-security firm mi2g has found Mac OS X to be among the safest and most secure online server operating systems.

PC World Reviews Mac OS X Server 10.3
“OS X Server is a robust and far-reaching server.... [I]t provides excellent file management, user management and print, Internet and mail services.... [M]any administrators don't realise how it works with Windows networks and PCs”

Computerworld Finds Xserve G5 a “Dream Machine”
Reviewer Ryan Fass praises the Xserve G5's ease of configuration, monitoring and maintainance. He also writes: “(f)ocusing solely on the hardware, the new Xserve just wows me.”

Pearson Digital Learning Ships KnowledgeBox on Apple Xserve
KnowledgeBox® is the first K-6 Digital Learning System for reading/language arts, math, science and social studies. Pearson has also announced that the new SASIxp 6.0 student information system is now Mac OS X-compatible.

Apple Workgroup Cluster for Bioinformatics
You don’t have to be a computer scientist to set up a fully functioning UNIX-based computational cluster. Apple has assembled the parts you need in one easy-to-set up, easy-to-use cluster powerhouse.

Xgrid Technology Preview
Xgrid is an application suite that enables a user to turn an arbitrary set of Mac OS X systems into an ad hoc computational grid or cluster.

Computerworld asks: Is Panther Server Ready for the Enterprise?
Author Yuval Kossovsky writes: “This product is truly enterprise-ready, has many service and security improvements and should easily integrate into Mac-dominant or Windows-centric environments.” This is a continuing series of articles; Part 2 of the story can be found here.

InfoWorld finds Panther Server “Powerful and Painless”
In this article InfoWorld’s Technical Director Tom Yager reviews Apples Power Mac G5, Mac OS 10.3 and Mac OS 10.3 Server. Regarding Mac OS 10.3 Server, Yager sums up: “The BSD Unix-based Mac OS 10.3 Server is the easiest commercial Unix to set up, configure and manage, yet Apple cut no corners on services.”

Video Network System Available for Xserve
SAFARI Technologies offers a video networking distribution system built on a base of Apple Xserve servers. They have recently announced that they will be providing their video solution to over 180 schools in the Chicago Public School District.

O'Reilly Conference Files Online
The O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference has ended, but presentation files from many sessions of interest to IT professionals are available for downloading at the O'Reilly site.

Mac Myths and IT Opinion.
In this Computerworld article, Michael Gartenberg offers reasons why Mac OS X offers a reasonable alternative to Wintel systems. He also states that IT departments that overcome their traditional prejudices against Apple may never go back to Windows.(PDF)

Apple RAIDs the Enterprise.
In this InfoWorld article, PJ Connolly writes, “I'm convinced that Apple’s server hardware stands up against anyone else’s...”(PDF)