When it initially introduced a new approach to its sever operating system lineup aimed at households with multiple computers, back in January 2007, Microsoft tied Windows Home Server with the MediaSmart server from Hewlett-Packard. Approximately two years later, HP announced the upcoming availability of the EX-485/EX-487 flavors of the MediaSmart server, targeting early 2009 for availability. With these new releases, the US-based computer maker emphasized the role that the offering would play in bridging Windows-machines and Apple Mac computers in terms of backup.

“The Windows Home Server team is excited to see the introduction of the next round of home servers from Hewlett Packard,” a member of the group building Microsoft's home server revealed.

EX-485/EX-487 will continue to feature Windows Home Server as an operating system, but will no longer support exclusively Windows-machines. In this context, HP underlined the fact that EX-485/EX-487 MediaSmart servers would also be able to backup content from Macs running Apple's OS X platform.

According to the OEM, EX-485/EX-487 will be powered by a 64-bit Intel Celeron processor at 2GHz, and by 2 GB of DDR2. The two new flavors of the MediaSmart server would start being available to the general public in February 2009, HP revealed. In terms of operating systems, since the introduction of Windows Home Server, Microsoft has also offered Power Pack 1 in mid-2008, the equivalent of a service pack for the Home Server operating system.

In addition to performing the automated image-based backup of both Windows and Mac computers, EX-485/EX-487 HP MediaSmart servers with Windows Home Server will permit consumers to easily restore their data and content, take advantage of automated indexing capabilities, but also remote access with a personalized domain names to the server, as well as to the PCs, and even enjoy media streaming, computer health monitoring, furthermore extending the storage capacity up to 9 TB.