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31 December 2007
Posted in
MyBlog
Daniel over on Roughly Drafted posted his list of possible annoucements for MacWorld but the one that caught my eye the most was his idea of an XServe Mini:
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/12/29/ten-big-predictions-for-apple-in-2008/
To quote him:
Xserve mini. I outlined a plan for a personal server back in 2006. The new Mac OS X Leopard Server now delivers on the software side with an entry level setup that is nearly ready for a basic embedded server box. Create a new appliance box along the lines of an Apple TV but focused toward serving data rather than syncing media, and make it as easy to administer as the AirPort Extreme.
Or perhaps take the AirPort itself and add more services so it could handle the email, file, and web serving of a home or small office, complete with the slick shared wiki, blogging, and calendar services offered in Leopard Server.
On the pro end, Apple could add an Asterisk PBX module for office telephony and turn the phone industry upside down with a low cost solution that just works. Then sell Macs to the thousands of small offices that upgrade their phones from their existing creaky old OS/2 PBX boxes. Call it the Macintosh Office.
Now could this work? Is there really a need for something like this?
I feel there is. Think of why businesses have servers in the first place. It's not so much for storage but keeping files in a single place. They're used for a central location for e-mail to be pushed to the required person. They're used for remote access. They're used for printer sharing.
Technically Apple has already produced a slim server that offers half of that in the Airport Extreme but let's consider a full blown server idea.
XServe Mini:
- Wireless router builtin
- Builtin, hotswappable drives (two for RAID)
- 4 Ethernet ports for devices needing hardwiring
- 1 WAN port for internet access
- 4 USB ports
- Firewire
- Fibre options for XRaid setup
- Mac OS X Server
That would be minimum specs but it is expandable with hotswap drives and Fibre.
Now how would it work?
Plug the server in and connect using an Airport Utility style software that will allow configuration of the wireless network. As it's a router any machine that has the required password can connect.
Once connected to the wireless network the administrator can now connect using VNC to configure the Mac OS X Server. Each user who connects to the server will have their data synched.
One of Daniel's other interesting predicitions would be a MacBook Mini whereby a slimline keyboard as well as multitouch screen and NAND drives would be its construction. This is nice only the size of NAND drives/$ is a joke but this can be sorted with something that's in use with the iPod.
So say Apple did release the MacBook Mini but it only had a 16Gb drive. Is this really an issue if you throw the XServe Mini into the picture? No because synching can be done via iTunes which is already well versed in this sort of problem with the iPods. Limited space on the iPod Nanos means iTunes needs to be resourceful on what goes onto it. The same could be applied to the MacBook Mini so that the only data stored on the machine is the data that has been synched or added to. Applications could be synched as well. For example if you wanted to go out and take photos then you'd synch iPhoto or Aperture and maybe an app like Photoshop or Pixelmator etc. If you were say doing a job then you might sync the required docs as well as Pages or Numbers. All of this of course being done via iTunes. It wouldn't be overly difficult to do as much of this is already in iTunes. So now in the user's Documents, Downloads, Applications, Movies, Music, and Pictures would be populated accordingly.
Now, because things are synced to the server automatically then the data is always in one place... on the server. This means TimeMachine is only ever needed on one machine but could be used by every machine connected to the server via profiles so you can only access your data from the backup.
This setup also has perfect applications in small businesses as you could imagine. You'd have two options that of 10 client edition and that of unlimited client edition. That way all your needs would be catered for.
With more than one Mac per house starting to become the norm then a server is getting to be more and more of a necessity. Put HDMI/Composite ports on the unit and you'll have a worthy replacement for both Airport Extreme and AppleTV. Simple, elegant, and practical. Price it at say a similar price to an iMac and you'll have it made.
Oh and Daniel's Asterisk PABX idea is pure genius if you have a couple of lines and a teenager. You'd be able to monitor their phone usage easier and then you can get them to foot the bill for their extension. :)
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