Macworld 2008: Apple launches Time Capsule wireless backup system
Steve Jobs today announced a new hardware and software combo designed to make backing up multiple Macs over a wireless network as painless as possible.
The Time Capsule hardware is a revamped 802.11n Wi-Fi base station (Airport Extreme) with a built in server grade hard drive with either 500GB or 1TB capacity.
Introduced by Jobs as a much more convenient way of backing up notebook Macs (no-one wants the hassle of connecting cables to an external hard drive, he said) but usable by any OS X Leopard-equipped Macs.
Software-wise, it utilises the Time Machine functionality introduced in Leopard.
Features of the Time Capsule at a glance:
* dual band antennas for 2.4GHz or 5GHz frequencies
* three Gigabit LAN ports
* one Gigabit Ethernet WAN port
• one USB 2.0 port
• Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA-2), 128-bit WEP encryption
* built-in NAT firewall supporting NAT-PMP for features like Back to My Mac
* able to print wirelessly to USB printer
The 500GB version will cost £199, with the 1TB version retailing for £329, available from February.
