HANNOVER, Germany--Nov. 19, 2003-- HELIOS Software GmbH, a leading provider of file, print and prepress server solutions, announced that HELIOS EtherShare now supports the latest version of Apple Computer's Apple Filing Protocol (AFP 3.1). When used with HELIOS EtherShare, AFP 3.1 is the easiest, best performing, and most reliable protocol for connecting multiple Mac OS X clients to a server for sharing files easily and efficiently over a network. HELIOS EtherShare support for AFP 3.1 includes: -- File names up to 255 characters in length -- Unicode/UTF-8 file names and volumes (cross-platform compatible with Mac and Windows clients via PCShare) -- Very large file support, no 4 GB limit any longer, for archive, prepress and video data -- Full Mac OS X compatibility (Mac OS X 10.3 recommended) -- Mac OS 8/9 backward compatibility via existing AFP 2.2 protocol -- Client/Server reconnect support, and Mac OS X client sleep support -- 2-3 times faster performance than NFS or SMB/CIFS file sharing Using a 1 GHz G4 Mac OS X 10.2 client connected via Gigabit Ethernet to a fast EtherShare AFP 3.1 server, LanTest shows read/write performance up to 60 MBytes per second when using a single OS X client. Server based FindFile using AFP volumes is done in seconds versus hours using NFS or SMB/CIFS volumes. "We are delighted to deliver the best performing AFP 3.1 file and print server for all major UNIX server platforms, demonstrating the technology leadership role that HELIOS plays in the networking field," says Helmut Tschemernjak, Founder and President of HELIOS.