Apple Mac OS X Server (Version 10.6 Snow Leopard) - Manual (Page 188)

188
Provide increased server responsiveness to clients and
reduce server load with Push Notification Server.
Mac OS X Server v10.6 uses an XMPP Pubsub architecture for the Push Notification
Server. XMPP Pubsub is an open standard extention to XMPP (XEP-060) that allows
servers and clients to communicate as needed, rather than clients continually asking
the server for updates.
A service (like iCal or mail) maintains a simple connection with the client and the
service informs the client that there is new data. This differs from previous methods,
where calendar or mail clients contacted the server at regular intervals, requesting
data, if present.
With the previous method of notification, the server must attend to each client,
regardless of whether the client has data waiting for it. By using the new push method
of client updating, only clients with new data are contacted, and only as needed.
About Push Notification Server
Mac OS X Server v10.6 push notification uses the same underlying technology as
iChat server, but you don’t need to run iChat on a computer that is running push
notification.
Push notification is available for the following services:
iCal Server Â
Mail Server Â
Clients of these services must support push notification to make use of it. Apple’s
client applications on Mac OS X v10.6, and iPhone 3.0 client applications support push
notification service. Third-party client applications may support it.
Mac OS X Server v10.6 push notification is not the same system as push notification for
iPhone application development. You cannot use Mac OS X Server v10.6 to host iPhone
application push notification.
9
Push Notification Server