Apple “Open Sources” Rendezvous
CUPERTINO, California — Apple® today announced it is “open sourcing” the code for its innovative new Rendezvous™
networking technology.
Rendezvous, based on open Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Standard Protocols such as IP, ARP and DNS, uses
industry standard networking protocols and zero configuration technology to automatically discover and connect devices
over any IP network, such as Ethernet or 802.11-based wireless networks like Apple’s Airport®. Major developers such as
Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark, Philips, Sybase, World Book and Xerox have announced support for Rendezvous in a
broad range of products spanning network printers, consumer electronics, enterprise database management and educational
applications.
“Rendezvous is a major innovation in IP networking that creates dynamic networks of computers, devices and software
applications with zero user configuration,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product
Marketing. “By supporting an open standards process and providing open source software that is available today, Apple is
encouraging the rapid adoption of Rendezvous technology.”
By making the source code freely available, Apple is making it easy for developers to use Rendezvous technology in their
network-enabled devices or software applications. The Rendezvous source code includes software to support UNIX, Linux,
and Windows-based systems and devices. Rendezvous support is built into Mac® OS X version 10.2 and is used by Apple’s
innovative new iChat application. Apple is working closely with the IETF Zeroconf Working Group to help develop zero
configuration IP networking technology and is submitting Rendezvous as an open standard as part of the ongoing IETF
standardisation process.
Starting today, developers can download Rendezvous as open source under the Apple Public Source License from
http://www.opensource.apple.com/projects/rendezvous. Rendezvous is part of a broader open source release today from
Apple at http://developer.apple.com/darwin which includes the Darwin 6.0.1 operating system and additional Open
Directory plug-ins. Together, these underscore Apple’s commitment to making core protocols freely available as open
standards and open source.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in
the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students,
educators and creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and
Internet offerings.