Editing Acorn Computers (section)

====SchoolServer====
Although Acorn had largely focused on its ARM-based product range offering RISC OS (and, for a time, [[RISC iX]]), albeit with an increasing emphasis on DOS and Windows compatibility through its PC card products,<ref name="acornuser199303_aleph1pc">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser128-Mar93/page/n11/mode/1up | title=Acorns and PCs Meet | work=Acorn User | date=March 1993 | access-date=19 June 2021 | pages=10 }}</ref><ref name="acornuser199503_486copro">{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser153-Mar95/page/n49/mode/2up | title=Cuckoo in the nest? | work=Acorn User | date=March 1995 | access-date=20 August 2021 | last1=Burley | first1=Ian | pages=50–51 }}</ref> the emergence of larger networks in education connecting systems based on different computing platforms—typically Acorn, PC and Apple Macintosh—motivated the introduction of the SchoolServer product range in 1995. The range consisted of server systems  manufactured by IBM running [[Windows NT Server]] (specifically [[Windows NT 3.5]]<ref name="acornuser199508_update">{{cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser158-Aug95/page/n8/mode/1up | title=Two-page Acorn update | magazine=Acorn User | date=August 1995 | access-date=20 August 2021 | pages=9 }}</ref>), employing a single 100&nbsp;MHz [[PowerPC]] processor, with 24&nbsp;MB or 32&nbsp;MB of RAM, one or two 1&nbsp;GB hard drives, and built-in Ethernet interfaces.<ref name="acorn_app873">{{ cite tech report |url=http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Acorn/Brochures/Acorn_APP873_SchoolServer.pdf | title=Acorn SchoolServer | publisher=Acorn Computers Limited | date=July 1995 |via=Chris's Acorns}}</ref>

Acorn bundled ANT Limited's OmniClient software to provide the connectivity support required for Acorn's own computers to access the SchoolServer's facilities, these being based on Microsoft's own SchoolServer platform and proprietary networking technologies. The adoption of such hardware and software platforms, motivated by concerns about the capabilities of Acorn's existing products (such as the Risc PC) in the server role, even apparently led to Acorn becoming a Microsoft Solution Provider despite having been "very vocal critics" of Microsoft and its technologies in the past.<ref name="acornuser199508_update" />

Other companies in the educational market introduced similar products to the SchoolServer. For instance, Datathorn Systems introduced a solution called Super Server based on the Motorola PowerStack server system,<ref name="acorn_app914">{{cite news | url=http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Acorn/Brochures/Acorn_APP914_ArcIss10.pdf | title=Whole school networking - impressive connectivity | work=Arc | publisher=Acorn Computers Limited | date=Spring 1996 | access-date=22 August 2021 | issue=10 | pages=46 |via=Chris's Acorns}}</ref> which was a PowerPC-based machine capable of running Windows NT 3.51 or [[IBM AIX|AIX]] 4.1,<ref name="byte199511_nt_ppc604">{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1995-11_OCR/page/n224/mode/1up | title=NT Roars on the 604 | work=Byte | date=November 1995 | access-date=22 August 2021 | last1=Rowell | first1=Dave | pages=209–212 }}</ref> with the Super Server project reportedly being "the product of research at both Oxford and Cambridge universities". Having approval from Acorn and offering interoperability between Acorn and PC platforms, the solution was deployed at several sites.<ref name="acornuser199502_datathorn">{{cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser152-Feb95/page/n13/mode/1up | title=Datathorn lands first big Super Server contract in Scotland | magazine=Acorn User | date=February 1995 | access-date=22 August 2021 | pages=14 }}</ref>