Hi everybody,

ALT Linux announces public availability of two products based on
Platform Five: ALT Linux 5.0 Ark, a suite designed for making integrated
solutions, and ALT Linux 5.0 School, a suite that is targetted at
secondary and high schools.

ALT Linux 5.0 Ark includes 2 distributions for 2 architectures (i586 and
x86_64):

* ALT Linux 5.0 Ark Server;
* ALT Linux 5.0 Ark Desktop.

Details are available at http://en.altlinux.org/ALT_Linux_5.0_Ark
You can download ISO images of ALT Linux 5.0 Ark from
ftp://ftp.altlinux.ru/pub/distributions/ALTLinux/p5/iso/ark/ , or your
nearest ALT Linux mirror (the list of mirrors, as usual, is available at
http://www.altlinux.com/en/go/download).

ALT Linux 5.0 School consists of 4 distributions:
* ALT Linux 5.0 School Server
* ALT Linux 5.0 School Lite
* ALT Linux 5.0 School Junior
* ALT Linux 5.0 School Master

Details are available at http://en.altlinux.org/ALT_Linux_5.0_School
(will be available shortly)
You can download ISO images of ALT Linux 5.0 School from
ftp://ftp.altlinux.ru/pub/distributions/ALTLinux/p5/iso/school/ , or the
nearest mirror.

The most prominent features of the server distributions are:
* Enterprise-class network organization
* Host-based authorization of users and services
* Connecting distributed systems together via VPN
* Host-based updates of servers and workstations throughout your LAN
* Network installation and setup of workstations
* Virtualization environment based on OpenVZ and KVM technologies
* Automated host-based backup and restore functionality for all the
network, including single files restore
* A unified file storage with quota support
* Automatic RAID1 setup if two or more identical discs are detected
* Simple and convenient administration by means of an innovative
web-interface that doesn't require profound administration skills
* Moodle and MediaWiki are bundled and installed along with School
Server

Desktop distributions sport the following features:
* Graphical desktops: GNOME (Ark Desktop, School Junior), XFCE (School
Lite), KDE 4 (School Master)
* Improved interaction with server distributions and virtual machines
that use Platform Five technologies, including out-of-the-box
availability of a terminal service
* Ready to use office suite to work with WWW, e-mail, common office
documents including those stored in OpenXML formats
* Host-based authorization (needs support from the server; all Platform
Five servers support this)
* Seemless integration with the server file storage (needs support from
the server; all Platform Five servers support this)

Both suites increase the productivity of everyday work greatly, when you
use the server and the desktop along in the same network. Host-based
authentication, automatic network resources mounting, Zeroconf
publish-subsribe technology. A useful and important feature is
virtualization, with OpenVZ and KVM technologies available, depending on
a virtual machine profile. Even unexperienced administrators can deal
with Platform Five servers thanks to a convenient and easy to use
AJAX-enabled web-interface based on ALTerator system.

Happy using!

-- 
  Alexey Rusakov
  Technical Manager/International Relations Manager
  ALT Linux