Apple's road less traveled - Technology strategy maps a path to the enterprise's front door.

APPLE COMPUTER IS flirting with the enterprise. The company that for 20 years has driven innovation of technologies including 802.11, peer-to- peer networking, PostScript, FireWire, portable MP3, and the clean user interface, is sharpening its enterprise wares.

Despite consistently denying it has targeted large corporations, technologies brought to the table this year suggest that Apple's software may be better suited for the enterprise than in the past.

Apple's Mac OS 10.2, aka Jaguar, is regarded by analysts as its most competent operating system for businesses. The Xserve is attracting favorable reviews (see "No worms here"). And the company is touting a new commitment to open standards.

Mac systems are already used in enterprise-equivalent environments, namely university and government settings, often …