Along with the desktop version of Panther, or Mac OS X 10.3, Apple has announced that Panther Server will also ship on October 24th. The new version of Mac OS X Server includes Samba 3 -- which Apple says is a first among "major vendors" -- for even better Windows networking, new admin tools, a new mail server based on Postfix SMTP built "from the ground up" that replaces SendMail, a new implementation of Kerberos, improved LDAP support, and more. All told, Apple says that there are 150 new features in the release. From Apple:

Apple today announced that Mac OS X Server version 10.3 "Panther," the most advanced release of Appleis award-winning UNIX-based server operating system ever with over 150 new features, will ship at the same time as Panther on October 24. Panther Server integrates leading open source and open standards software with easy-to-use management tools that make it easy to deploy popular open source solutions for Mac, Windows and Linux clients. New features include a revolutionary Server Admin tool that makes it easy for administrators to set up and manage the open source software built in to Mac OS X; Open Directory 2 for hosting scalable LDAP directory and Kerberos authentication services; Samba 3 for providing login and home directory support for Windows clients; and the JBoss application server for running powerful J2EE applications.

Apple is the first major vendor to ship a server operating system with Samba 3, the latest version of the popular open source project that delivers high-performance, reliable file and print services to Windows clients. Now Windows users can authenticate against Panther Server directly from a PC login window. Panther Server can also host their Windows home directories and support Windows "roaming profiles." By tightly integrating Samba 3 with Appleis Open Directory, Panther Server makes it easy for users to access their accounts from either a Mac or a Windows-based PC.

In addition, Appleis revolutionary new Server Admin tool makes it easy for system administrators to set up, manage and monitor the complete set of services built into Panther Server. For example, with a couple of mouse clicks, customers can deploy OpenLDAP and Kerberos for directory and authentication, Samba for Windows support, Postfix for e-mail and Apache for hosting web sites.

Other open standards–based network services in Panther Server designed for mixed-client environments include Open Directory 2, a robust LDAP directory and Kerberos authentication server based on OpenLDAP, Berkeley DB and MITis Kerberos KDC that delivers industrial-strength scalability and security. An all new mail server rebuilt from the ground up using the open source Postfix SMTP and Cyrus IMAP and POP servers provides an open architecture for integrating with spam and virus filtering solutions, and SSL for secure e-mail. In addition, a new VPN server built into Panther Server supports Mac OS X, Windows or UNIX clients using PPTP and L2TP tunneling protocols. Panther Server also includes an updated release of Apache, the worldis most popular web server along with Apache Tomcat and Apache Axis for creating powerful web services.

Pricing & Availability
Mac OS X Server version 10.3 "Panther" will be available beginning Friday, October 24th at Appleis retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of US$499 for a 10-client edition and US$999 for an unlimited-client edition. Visitors to The Apple Store can pre-order copies beginning today. Volume and maintenance pricing is available from Apple. The standard Mac OS Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchase a new Xserve on or after October 8 that did not have Panther Server included and to customers who purchase the Mac OS X Server version 10.2 "Jaguar" retail product on or after October 8 for a shipping and handling fee of US$19.95 .

Panther Server works together with Appleis powerful Xserve rack-mount server hardware and is designed to run on Power Mac G5, G4 and G3 computers with a minimum of 128MB RAM, 4GB of available disk space and built-in USB.

You can find more information about Panther Server at Appleis Web site. You can pre-order it from the online Apple Store now.