At CES next week, HP will be making a number of announcements regarding their MediaSmart suite of products, which includes the HP MediaSmart Server. We Got Served was sent early details of those announcements today (you’ll see that CNET and Engadget have covered this too today).
In Spring 2008 (Engadget reckon February, but that’s not confirmed) a free download via HP Update will bring new functionality to the HP MediaSmart Server (both the EX470 and EX475). Here’s what you can look forward to:
- 7 Months Free McAfee Virus Protection
A partnership with McAfee will see their Total Protection for Small Business suite made available for free for a 7 month period, after which the license can be extended for a subscription fee. The suite provides anti-virus, anti-spam and internet security protection in one package. No details are available right now on fees after the free license period. - PacketVideo Media Streaming
A partnership with PacketVideo will extend the media streaming capabilities of the MediaSmart Server which will bring a variety of new benefits to users, including album art display and photo thumbnails. - Vista x64 Compatibility
According to the press release, the HP MediaSmart Server will also support connection to Vista x64 systems, as previously discussed by the WHS Product Team in our Q&A last year.
Hopefully, HP will be showcasing the updates at CES next week - stay tuned for more. In the meantime, it’s great news for MediaSmart owners that HP are continuing to develop new functionality to compete with new hardware entrants this year.
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Ugh. McAfee in 512Mb? That will suck. And what’s the point in having the anti-spam and “internet security” installed when we don’t read mail on that machine and it’s not used for browsing? Lets hope we can cut back the install to just the anti-virus.
Now if only they would look at the awful photo sharing, which scales your photos badly and doesn’t cope with full res downloads that well.
Either way it looks like upgrading the memory is rapidly becoming a necessity.
January 4th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Barryd: That’s why Microsoft said “It grows with you”.
And and extra 512MB isn’t that expensive these days.
However, I agree with you about McAfee, I would go for Avast instead (when I’m able to get it installed - for some reason the installer hangs/does nothing, and when I cancel I get the 1603 Error).
January 4th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Gamer - there’s a big in the current Avast installer which prevents installation on a few non-English locales - they should have a fix out very soon. Check avast.com for more.
Terry
January 4th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Great… so when will the vista x64 support be available to WHS users who built their own server rather than bought the HP device? Anyone have any idea?
January 5th, 2008 at 4:00 am
I think the February date is right - did anybody notice the editor’s comments accidentally left in the manual on page 70? Ha ha ha. I wish Apple would leave stuff like that in their manuals. “[do we want to say EDGE? We will have 3G in the iPhone in March.]“
January 6th, 2008 at 3:25 am
Looking for a real Vista 64 compatible anti-virus software that also works with DVD copy software programs like DVD neXt Copy. CA anti-virus mangles my Vista OS. Need a good 64 anti-virus with low system resource use (that’s why the CA anti-virus programs was so good).