Archive for April, 2009

Group Logic ExtremeZ-IP 6.0 A propper AFP server on Windows

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Group Logic announces the release of ExtremeZ-IP 6.0 an AFP server for Windows Servers.

Extreme-Z IP is a high performance AFP Fileserver that bridges the gap that Windows native SFM (Services for Macintosh) and Mac OS X’s native SMB/ CIFS client and create.

the 3 massive selling points for me are:

  • Performance – its way quicker than SFM & SMB/ CIFS which is justification for some alone
  • Full Microsoft DFS (Distributed File System) support
  • Mac OS X Spotlight support

for a full SFM comparison click here

for SMB/ CIFS please click here

Also please note the SFM has been removed from Windows Server 2008.

Mach One have been recommending Extreme-Z IP for many years & have always found it a very reliable product with excellent technical support. Extreme-Z IP is easy to install and configure and is a product we have used time and again when consulting on Macintosh integrating with Microsoft Active Directory, Network Home Directories and managed client environments. Please do contact us if you would like any advice or help on the above we can be emailed here

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BBC reports 97% of all emails now spam!

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

just seen this article on the BBC website which reports a Microsoft claim that 97% off all messages sent of the net are spam.

To combat this ever present problem we have been installing, configuring, supporting  and fine tuning the excellent Kerio MailServer for a number of years now.

Kerio MailServer offers A combination of content-based SpamAssassin and sender-based anti-spam tools that significantly reduces the amount of unwanted email. Kerio MailServer also support dual antivirus scanning providing you with comprehensive protection against malicious emails. for a full list of features click here

Kerio is a genuine competitor to Microsoft Exchange. Not only does the server run on the Mac OS Platform it also features groupware features such as shared calendars, contacts and mailboxes.

Mobile devices are very well catered for with push email, contacts and calendars direct to your iPhone, Blackberry or other smartphone.

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New Drobo Pro from Data Robotics

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

Data robotics have announced a new product the Drobo Pro, an upgraded version of the popular Drobo II.

Aside from the additional capacity the 8 bay pro version boasts over the original 4 bay version the Drobo Pro now also offers an iSCSI interface along with Dual Disk Redundancy support. Both versions feature Firewire 800 & USB 2 interfaces.

Drobo‘s use BeyondRAID™ technology, unlike traditional RAID arrays you can mix an match your hard disk sizes, instantly expand the size of your volume by simply inserting new Hard disks.

we’re a big fan of the Drobo at Mach One, its simple Drobo Dashboard software & design mean you don’t need any IT skills to administer these products, in fact you don’t even need a screwdriver to install or remove the drives.

With SATA hard disks being as cheap as they are, the Drobo range offers a very cost effective storeage solution & with the iSCSI and DroboShare options many of our clients are ditching the traditional CD/ DVD archive for this near line solution.

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Apple Updates Xserves with Nehalem Processors

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

As predicted, Apple has updated its Xserve range with the Nehalem processor. This brings the range upto date with the recent new Mac Pro Range.

Aside from a considerable increase in performance, Apple have also engineered this new Xserve to be far less power hungry, meaning its better for the environment and will potentially cut your hosting bills too. This can be further enhanced by the optional 128GB Solid State Hard disk as a boot drive. This drive only consumes around 1 Watt of power where as the traditional SATA drive consumes 12-18 Watts. it also does not take up one of the 3 SATA drive bays meaning you can have upto 3TB of dedicated storage.

The new Xserve is available in Quad and 8 core models with either 6 (quad core) or 12 (8 core) RAM slots and options of 2.26GHz, 2.66GHz or 2.93GHz processor speeds

On interesting thing I’ve picked up on the tech specs page is the quote:

System supports up to 32GB in Mac OS X Server v10.5

Presumably 32Gb is a limit on 10.5, maybe snow leopard, 10.6 will offer full support for upto 48Gb RAM.

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Extensis Suitcase Fusion 2 Update brings Tiger compatibility

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Popular font management app Suitcase Fusion 2 has just been updated. Previous versions were only compatible with Mac OS 10.5 Leopard. Fusion 2  13.1 is now compatible with Mac OS 10.4 Tiger

Click here for a direct download

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April Newsletter

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

We’ve just sent out our April News letter featuring the new United Digital Hyperstar PCIe RAIDs.

click here to view

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