Insider Software this week shipped Font Agent Pro Server 2.5 if its font server and FontAgent Pro 4 for Mac, new versions of its font server and Mac font management client. Active Directory and Open Directory integration are among the new features of the server Mac client updates. A simple interface in the administrative software displays the user directory, which can be used to manage the fonts distributed to different users and groups.

The Active Directory/Open Directory support provides a zero-configuration architecture for accessing existing network directory services. Once the server and client bind to Active Directory, users, groups, and passwords appear in the administrator software. The server also tracks licensing of the fonts being used by various client machines and stores a database of font license information.

The font server can distribute and manage cross-platform OpenType fonts, which can work on both Mac OS X and Windows. It also provides integrated diagnostics and repair. The current Windows client, FontAgent Pro 3 for Windows does not work with the Active Directory component of the new server. A version 4 release of the Windows client is currently in beta testing.

The server runs on Apple hardware. The server's administration software is currently only available for Mac OS X. A Windows version is of the administrator is planned.

Version 2.5 of the font server also added multi-threading to support the multiple cores Apple's lastest 8-core Mac Pro and Xserve hardware. The company said this support can provide up to ten times the performance of the previous version of Font Agent Pro Server

FontAgent Pro Server 2.5 is priced at US $1,700 per server, plus US $130 per connected client.