Apple Computer Inc has completed a long-running internal debate over its position on Unix. As previously reported, the well-publicised wrangle about desktop Unix culminated in a decision to scrap development. But it seems there has also been an internal debate about whether to proceed with a Unix server. Apple was to have announced Unix servers during the first quarter of 1995 (CI No 2,566). But no announcement was made and it is unlikely that one will be before November or December. Any servers probably will not ship until the beginning of 1996. Indeed, sources said the whole development did not become a committed funding project until this summer. Apple is still committed to building its own server hardware and this is pretty much ready to roll. It is the software that has caused problems. Apple seems to have junked its relationship with the PowerOpen Association, the body charged with specifying a standard Unix for PowerPC. Initially, Apple intended to get source code through the Association, but it now has a deal to take AIX source code directly from IBM. The process of developing and testing AIX is responsible for the hold-up with the servers. It is thought that Apple has two high-end pieces of hardware waiting in the wings, codenamed Milky Way and Andromeda. One, or perhaps both, will be a symmetric multiprocessing box. They are said to have storage bays with hot-swappable media, plenty of PCI expansion slots and support for RAID level 5 disk arrays.
