Hewlett Packard Announces Two New MediaSmart Servers

On Monday HP will announce that they will be shipping two new MediaSmart Servers: the EX485 and EX487. This is probably no surprise to many of you as HP themselves leaked the model numbers about a month ago. They will be shown at CES and MacWorld in early January and will begin shipping on February 1, 2009.

Here's a rundown of the new specs:

	EX485	EX487
Processor	Intel 2.0 GHz	Intel 2.0 GHz
Memory	2 GB	2 GB
Hard Drives	750GB	1.5TB (2 x 750GB)
OS	WHS with PP1	WHS with PP1
Cost	$649 MSRP	$799 MSRP

Hardware

The Hardware in the new EX485 has changed somewhat from it's EX470 predecessor. Before I open up the unit and inspect the motherboard, I checked with CPU-Z.

The motherboard manufacturer is listed as a Wistron (same as the EX470) model EX48X with an Intel chipset. The BIOS is from American Megatrends and has a custom HP version number: HPMSS-01.

As you can see from the "Intel Inside" logo pasted to the front of the case, HP decided to abandon AMD and go with the Intel Celeron 440 processor (Conroe-L) running at 2GHz. It's still not a dual core processor, but the Celeron was no doubt chosen for the low power consumption and more than adequate performance.

As far as memory was concerned, HP also went with 2GB of memory right out of the box, giving the WHS all the extra room it needs for memory hungry third party add-ins. A smart choice and one that no one should be surprised to hear.

If you open up the case, the motherboard is laid out pretty much as it was in the EX470, with the processor up front and RAM on the left side (looking from the front). It also has the same CN10 connector as the EX470 and yes, your custom VGA connector will still work.

Click on the image below to view a high resolution photo.

Software

The first thing you will notice about the new machine is the new HP MediaSmart Server tab.

Take a look at the new tab:

As you can see HP has arranged the interface with the navigation area on the left and the larger main pane on the right. You can arrange menu items using the little mouse over arrows or you can drag and drop then into position.

The tabs are:

• Welcome
• Server Summary
• Remote Access
• HP Photo Publisher
• HP Media Collector
• Features for Mac
• Server for iTunes
• Server Online Backup
• TwonkyMedia

Web Interface

HP's Web interface is also all new. If you browse to http://hpserver with your Internet browser, you will see this sparkling new interface.

HP Photo Publisher

The first web application is HP Photo Publisher. it allows you to publish photos from your MediaSmart Server directly to online photo sharing services such as snapfish, flickr, Picasa and facebook. it also allows you to add photos to the built in HP Photo Viewer (more on this below).

Personally, I don't know why HP Photo Publisher is displayed so prominently as a web application. I would think that this would be a utility best run as an Add-in from the Home Server console.

HP Photo Viewer

HP's Photo Viewer is a vast improvement over their last photo viewer offering (which pretty much fell short). This version has a beautiful user interface that you won't mind sharing with family and friends.

The Photo Viewer speeds up viewing of your photos online. When viewing a 5 megapixel image, for example, the HP software uses ImageMagick (open source image software) to transcode the images on the fly and send a smaller version that will be formatted to fit the client's screen.

Web Media Streamer

There are actually several ways to view photos remotely on the new EX48X. The HP Photo Viewer (above) and the Web Media Streamer. The Web Media Streamer is a web application that allows you to access media on your MSS from anywhere on the Internet. It uses a Flash application to view images and listen to your favorite MP3s or non copy protected ACC files (iTunes music files). Because the application is written in Flash, this unfortunately precludes you from streaming your music to your Windows Mobile phone or iPhone 3G. I hope that HP will correct this omission sometime in the near future.

Amazon S3 Backup

The new MediaSmart Server comes pre-installed with cloud backup software that will backup specified folders to Amazon's S3 service.

Mac Users Rejoice

HP has gone a long way to add Mac support to the new Home Server. Although the initial configurations of the MediaSmart Server much be performed on a PC, much of the functionality works on Mac OS X 10.5 or later.

The most exciting Mac feature is the ability to use the MediaSmart Server a Time Machine backup drive. Special client software will allow a folder on the the MediaSmart Server to appear as a USB drive, thus allowing Mac's native Time Machine software to work.

You can also access your MediaSmart Server's shared folders from your Mac and publish photos via HP Photo Publisher.

Note that some features are not available on the Mac including the Media Collector and remote access.

Software Upgrade

Fear not, certain aspects of the new software will to made available to install on your existing EX470 via an HP update. This includes the Amazon S3 backup add-in and Time Machine backup. A specific timeframe has yet to be announced, but it will probably coincide with the February 1st launch of the new hardware.

Bottom Line

The new HP MediaSmart Servers are a giant step forward over their first generation offerings. The new user MediaSmart Server tab on the Home Server Console is a nice addition as are the new custom Add-Ins and web software. Mac Time Machine support will make many "split households" very happy.

HP's Windows Home Servers continue to be one of the best in the market, but the question that everyone is going to ask is this: If I already own an EX470, is it worth upgrading? For current EX470 users, I don't see a compelling reason to upgrade as many of the new features can be installed on your current system. (Don't you feel great about your $299 HP EX470 purchase now!)

First time buyers (on the other hand) will be extremely happy with the power and custom features of the HP MediaSmart Server EX485. I highly recommend it.