By Kasper Jade

The upcoming release of Apple's Mac OS X Server Panther will include a slew of new features and enhancements in virtually every component of the operating system, according to sources familiar with the project. The company has also reportedly built in the next generation of its industrial-strength standards-based QuickTime Streaming Server (QTSS). With a focus on usability and further integration with Mac OS X Server, the new version will deliver a number of enhancements.

Administration
Sources said that Apple has redesigned QTSS administration and integrated it directly into Mac OS X Server Admin. While the standalone web-based administration application will remain available, administrators can now customize the streaming server settings -- such as binding QTSS to specific IP addresses, monitoring activity, and setting up relays -- using the same interface as other Mac OS X Server services.

The new version of Mac OS X Server Admin can also be installed on client versions of Mac OS X Panther for remote administration and monitoring of client machines running Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar or later.

Publishing Made Simple
The new release will also feature a new application called "Quick Time Streaming Server Publisher," which allows web masters and content creators to easily manage QuickTime media, including streaming and progressive download content. The application will locally on the server or on any Macintosh running Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar or later.

With QTSS Publisher users can upload and download media to Mac OS X Server Panther, annotate movies, and prepare content for streaming. The Publisher will automatically apply hint tracks to unhinted movies to ensure the reliability of streams, and create multiple bit rate reference movies to ensure end-users are provided the appropriate stream for their bandwidth, sources said.

To cut out the time required to embed media into web pages, and allow content creators to focus on improving content, Apple will offer automatic HTML generation of embedded media--directly from within the Publisher. The application will also bundle a set of nifty templates to help creators turn their content into attractive web pages.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating features of the new server software is playlists. Users of the new QTSS can create MP3, MP4 and movie server-side playlists with the ease of an iTunes-like drag and drop interface. Users can quickly adopt this functionality to turn their servers into an Internet radio station or simulate a live experience with prerecorded QuickTime movies.

Sources said that playlists will fully support scheduling, sources said. Once a user has finalized their playlist, they simply set start and stop times and dates and walk away; the server will take care of the rest. If the user needs to make a change to the playlist, they can simply add or rearrange the media in real-time without having to stop and restart the server.

Home Directory Streaming
The updated streaming server will also reportedly gain the ability to stream movies from a user's home directory. Non-administrative users can log into the server and upload files to a streaming folder in their home directory. Administrators no longer have to move the files to a main media directory. Instead, the files will become immediately accessible streams via their filename off the user's homepage directory.

QTSS Home Directory support also sports the ability to limit disk space and throughput for local streaming folders on an account-based model.

As noted earlier this month, Apple also recently wrapped up the development of its QuickTime 6.4 client software. The update is fully compatible with Mac OS X Panther and includes support for multi-channel AAC audio. The software is expected to be released over Apple's Software Update application sometime in the next month.