Almost exactly a year after it was first unveiled, Apple has announced the availability of Final Cut Server, the company's new asset management and workflow automation product.

Final Cut Server automatically catalogues large collections of assets, allows searching across multiple disks and SAN volumes and enables viewing, annotation and approval of content from anywhere using a PC or Mac.

By adding Final Cut Server it is possible to have a central ‘bucket' of assets for an entire production or post production team using Final Cut Studio software.

Rob Schoeben, Apple's vice president of applications product marketing said: “With the introduction of Final Cut Server, collaboration just got a whole lot easier for millions of editors, producers and clients who work with Final Cut Studio.”

A cross-platform client enables a PC or Mac to use Final Cut Server's broad search capabilities, which extend from simple keywords to complex combinations of IPTC, XMP and XML metadata.

Final Cut Server was unveiled at NAB 2007 but, in its current form, it has not been available until now.

Final Cut Server is based on a product called Artbox made by the Proximity Group. Apple purchased Proximity in 2006.

Final Cut Server is available immediately through the Apple Store and Apple authorised resellers. It costs $999 (US) for one server and 10 concurrent client licenses or $1,999 (US) for one server and unlimited client licenses. Prices for UK and Europe have not been announced yet.

Full system requirements and more information on Final Cut Server can be found at www.apple.com/finalcutserver