Last week MacCentral brought readers news about Apple’s release of IP Over FireWire Preview Release. Since then Apple pulled the software from circulation, but has since reposted it for download — as long as you’re a member of the Apple Developer Connection (ADC).
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IP Over FireWire makes it possible for Macintoshes to communicate using TCP/IP and FireWire rather than networking. FireWire has some inherent advantages for certain types of communication, such as networking and clustering solutions where you need to transfer large amounts of data quickly. FireWire offers 400 megabit/second data transfer speeds, compared to 100 megabit/second transfer speeds on a 100baseT network.
Apple noted that the preview release also provides the ability to use Rendezvous, Jaguar’s zero-configuration networking technology, via FireWire. IP Over FireWire even makes it possible for one Mac to share its Internet connection with another through FireWire.
The preview release itself is aimed at developers who want to gain an understanding of the technology, and when MacCentral first announced the software’s availability, it could be publicly download. Now it appears that Apple has restricted access to the file specifically to ADC members, but the good news is that ADC membership exists at various levels, including low cost and free programs.