Open Transport 1.1 is now available, and Apple recommends upgrading to it. Also refer to Open Transport 1.1 Reference Questions and Answers Tech Info Library articles for the most recent information.
Answer: The Open Transport architecture is designed to provide server applications -- file, print, database, e-mail, directory, and other -- with a foundation for higher performance and for more flexible configuration, while maintaining the historical differentiation of Mac OS based servers -- ease of configuration and administration.
Question: How will Open Transport enhance server performance?
Answer: Servers, as network-aware applications, gain access to the higher performance Power PC native implementation of networking protocols that Open Transport provides. To exploit this performance opportunity, server applications must be accelerated for Power Macintosh and must utilize the new Open Transport XTI APIs.
Severs will also benefit through access to new high-speed PCI datalink implementations for Macintosh such as fast ethernet and ATM.
Question: How will Open Transport enhance server flexibility?
Answer: Open Transport introduces the capability of activating more than one network connection at the same time, using the same networking protocol. This capability is known as multihoming, and enables servers to support more clients, to offer greater total performance, and to increase the reliability of mission critical applications.
Finally, as discussed above, Open Transport enables the development of transport independent applications. This will be especially valuable for server applications which need to be deployed in AppleTalk, or TCP/IP, or NCP/IPX, or other protocol environments.
Question: Will Apple's server products such as AppleShare and PowerShare exploit Open Transport features?
Answer: Yes. Apple server products will adopt Open Transport, and will over time exploit Open Transport features including multihoming and transport independence. Product details will be announced at a later date.
Question: Are PCI-bus Power Macs with Open Transport 1.0.x recommended as application servers?
Answer: No, not at this time. As is discussed elsewhere in this document, to meet customer expectations in regards to anticipated increases in flexibility and performance, server applications such as AppleShare and PowerShare, as well as third party server applications need to be accelerated for Power Macintosh and adopt the new Open Transport APIs.
Question: When will PCI-bus Power Macintosh systems be recommended as servers?
Answer: Apple recommends that server application developer adopt Open Transport v1.1 as the basis for new network applications development as soon as is possible within their product life cycles. As these updated versions of server software become available customers will find that the combination of PCI-bus, Power Macintosh, and Open Transport makes a great platform for flexible, high-performance network applications.