Headline: VMware vSphere 5 to add cloud support for OSX server

VMware has plans to support Mac OS X Server in their next release of vSphere. This product allows companies to build cloud infrastructures, offering a more flexible and management envirment than if they would allocate dedicated hardware to every server instance. Data center managers also benifit by automated disaster recovery plans and monitor and manage performance. By pooling server hardware, VMware says businesses can reduce their requirements of power, cooling and server storage, cutting energy cost by as much as 80 percent. vSphere v4  currently supports Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Oracle Solaris 10, as well as enterprise versions of Linux from RedHat, SUSE and Ubuntu. By adding support for Mac OS X Server, VMware will give its enterprise customers an option for virtualizing the deployment of Apple's server features without having to dedicate rack space to Mac hardware.

Apple has backed out of the dedicated server hardware market, first by discontinuing the Xserve RAID and then by terminating its Xserve server, it continues to develop its Mac OS X Server product, with the next major version adding the formerly premium server features to the standard edition.

Mac OS X Server includes WebDAV-based calendar and contact management, easy to use wiki services for building group collaboration tools. While Mac OS X Lion Server 10.7, will incorporate expanded support for iOS mobile devices, including WebDAV file sharing for iPhone and iPads, expanded Push Notifications for messaging services, and a new Profile Manager that provides setup and management features for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac OS Lion computers.

VMware vShere v4 link: www.vmware.com/vSphere