Open Transport

The term open transport is quite misleading, one look at this term and the image of some truck without a cover, transporting some goods come to one’s mind. However, that image and that concept lies out of the realm of the networking and computing world, and this article will only deal with this term with respect to the networking world. In the networking world, Open Transport is basically a protocol introduced by the Apple Inc. to the world. This name was given by the Apple to their implementation of the Unix-originated System V Streams.

This protocol was based on the code that was licensed by the Mentat’s portable streams.This major role of this technology was to provide the Mac OS computers with a modern implementation of the TCP/IP, hence it was released as an alternative to the older technology named MacTCP, moreover, this newer technology was also capable of providing support to the legacy systems.

This protocol basically enables the Macintosh computers and laptops to use the AppleTalk devices and software, so that the computer can connect with the other types of devices or computers and networks. The biggest reason for the release of this technology was to allow the Macintosh to be able to the internet as internet used the TCP/IP protocols, and without the aid of this open transport protocol, this task couldn’t be accomplished.

This Open Transport or more commonly known as OT technology was first released in the May of 1995 with the release of Power Mac 9500. This protocol was included and integrated with the System 7.5.2, which was a release for the new PCI based power Macs. In the beginning this technology was not available for the older technology, however, after the success of this technology, a version was introduced that could also be used with the older hardware or legacy, therefore it is said that the Open Transport technology can support legacy systems too.