10+reasons+for+a+mac+os+server

toc =10 Reasons for a MAC OS X Server in Education=

**Mac OS X Server in Education**
Podcasts. Blogs. Wikis. Group calendars. Video chats. Instant access to centralized resources. Welcome to the 21st-century academic environment. With Mac OS X Server version 10.5 Leopard, Apple puts the power of a server into the hands of everyone in your institution. So students, educators, and researchers are always connected and always communicating and collaborating—whether they’re around the globe or just across campus.
 * Collaboration and communication solutions for 21st-century academic environments.**

1. End-to-end production of professional-quality podcasts.
Podcast Producer in Mac OS X Server is a complete, customizable solution for producing podcasts of lectures, development sessions, research presentations, and campus updates. Starting with the Podcast Capture application in Mac OS X Leopard, it’s a snap for users to capture audio and video, record onscreen actions, or submit existing QuickTime content to the server. Once the content is uploaded, Podcast Producer automatically publishes it to your choice of distribution services—including iTunes U—in formats optimized for playback on almost any device, from HD video to iPod, Apple TV, or any multimedia-enabled cell phone.

2. Group collaboration on wiki-powered websites.
Mac OS X Server gives students, educators, and research teams an instant space for collaboration. With their own group wiki—complete with blog, group calendar, and mailing-list archive—authorized users can create entries, tag and cross-reference material, upload files and images, add comments, and perform keyword searches. Best of all, these powerful capabilities are accessible from any modern browser in just a few clicks—there’s no need to learn an arcane markup language.

3. Complete standards-based calendaring and scheduling.
iCal Server makes it easy for educators and researchers to share calendars, coordinate events, schedule meetings, and reserve resources—without resorting to lengthy email exchanges. The first commercial calendar server to support the open CalDAV standard, iCal Server integrates with popular CalDAV-based calendar programs without requiring client access licenses—so departments and entire institutions can add users freely as they expand, at no additional cost.

4. Powerful new ways to communicate using IM.
iChat Server brings the collaborative power of instant messaging to educational institutions. Now teams can transfer files securely, conduct an audio conference, or—with the new iChat Theater feature in Leopard—even broadcast a presentation, movie, or photo slideshow to other iChat users. They can also use iChat Server to host a persistent chat room—perfect for virtual team scenarios, project-specific discussions, or real-time updates. Individuals can join the chat room at any time, leave when they need to, even log out and shut down—and come back to review all communications since the chat room opened.

5. Lightning-fast searches of content stored on the server.
Designed for groups that share documents, projects, and file archives, Spotlight Server is the fastest way to search and find content stored on network volumes. Using Spotlight Server, students and researchers have rapid access to centralized information. And for media departments, digital asset management no longer needs to be a complex and expensive proposition. The rich Quick Look feature in Leopard combines with Cover Flow, allowing users to scan hundreds of files in just seconds—without opening them.

6. Simplified server setup and management.
With Mac OS X Server v10.5, Apple applies its legendary ease of use to the configuration, management, and monitoring of a server—so that even nontechnical individuals can administer network services. Server Assistant provides step-by-step setup of key applications, network settings, and user accounts. Once complete, Server Preferences enables intuitive management of key services, while the Server Status widget displays instantaneous information about active services. Mac OS X Server also integrates with the Directory application in Mac OS X Leopard, allowing authorized users to share contact information, create groups, set up group wikis and mailing lists, find shared equipment, and more—without needing to call IT for help.

7. Real-time streaming of rich media content.
Now educators and administrators can publish lectures, broadcast educational programming, and make red-letter events—such as the big game or a commencement speech—accessible to the entire school community. Mac OS X Server has all the tools required to add streaming media to school websites, deliver distance learning, or provide rich content for students, faculty, and alumni. Using open industry standards, the QuickTime Streaming Server delivers live or prerecorded media content in real time over the Internet, without any associated client license fees.

8. Home directory access from portable hard drives.
Mac OS X Server v10.5 adds new flexibility to the Mobile Accounts feature. With their External Account stored on a portable FireWire or USB drive, users can access their home directories—complete with cached preferences—just by plugging in the drive to any system on the network. The account can be fully managed using Workgroup Manager and protected using FileVault. External Accounts is an ideal solution for students working in computer labs or for anyone who uses multiple workstations around campus.

9. Premiere platform for web development and hosting.
Mac OS X Server v10.5 offers webmasters an easy-to-use solution for deploying robust websites based on Web 2.0 frameworks. Starting with a choice of Apache 2.2 or Apache 1.3, developers can add functionality using MySQL 5 with Apache/MySQL/PHP integration, Tomcat 5, and Java™ Virtual Machine on Intel technology. In addition, Mac OS X Server now includes Ruby on Rails with Mongrel and Capistrano, enhancing its position as a premiere platform for web application development.

10. Full UNIX compliance.
Mac OS X Server v10.5 is built on a robust UNIX foundation that provides the stability, performance, and security required by 21st-century academic institutions. Now fully UNIX-compliant, Mac OS X Server can compile and run existing UNIX 03 code—making it a solid computing and networking platform for environments that demand.

http://images.apple.com/education/solutions/macosx/pdf/L360369A_10Reason_MacOSXServer.pdf © 2007 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Cover Flow, FileVault, FireWire, iCal, iChat, iPod, iTunes, Mac, Mac OS, and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Apple TV, Leopard, and Spotlight are trademarks of Apple Inc. Intel is a trademark of Intel Corp. in the U.S. and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the U.S. and other countries. Mac OS X Server version 10.5 Leopard is an Open Brand UNIX 03 Registered Product. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. December 2007 L360369A-US To learn more about Mac OS X Server in education, visit www.apple.com/education or call 800-800-2775 to speak to an Apple education representative.