Apple Introduces Rack-Mount Server

Apple

Dubbed Xserve, the 1U server is scheduled to ship next month and comes in two models: a unit with a single 1GHz PowerPC G4 processor and 256 Mbytes of DDR RAM, and one with dual 1GHz G4 processors and 512 Mbytes of DDR RAM. Both models include a 60-Gbyte ATA/100 Apple Drive Module (each storage drive can hold four 60-Gbyte or 120-Gbyte modules), dual Gigabit Ethernet, a CD-ROM drive and Mac OS X Server with unlimited clients. The Xserve also comes with Server Admin, a services monitoring and remote management tool, and Server Monitor, a hardware monitoring tool that enables administrators to remotely monitor one or many servers, get detailed subsystem views instantly, produce reports and receive system notification alerts via e-mail, pager, cell phone or PDA.

Customers can buy Xserves configured to their preferences as well, Jobs said. The single-processor Xserve lists for $2,999 and the dual-processor version for $3,999.

Jobs began his presentation by saying that Apple is "humble" about the new server, admitting that Apple has "a lot to learn" because it's new to the Unix server market. "For everything we know, there are things we don't know," he said.

Jobs went on to compare Xserve with similar products from Unix-based server veterans Sun Microsystems, Dell Computer and IBM, noting that Xserve can hold its own in terms of performance and capacity against those vendors' more expensive servers. Citing "hidden" charges for user licenses on Dell and IBM products, Jobs said Xserve is the better buy for companies running Windows-based systems.

Apple is positioning Xserve as a cost-effective solution for functions such as file/print service, video streaming, databases, computational clustering and Web/mail serving and for I/O-intensive applications such as digital video, high-resolution digital imagery and large scientific data sets.

The Xserve hardware, building on the success of Apple's year-old OS X operating system, gives Apple greater entry to the enterprise market through VARs, according to Jobs. "The interest Apple has gotten from the Unix community has been strong," he said. "People who wouldn't even talk to us before about Unix when we called them now are talking to us. [Xserve will fuel this even more."

Tim Cook, Apple's executive vice president of operations, sales and support, said that since VARs already had anticipated a Unix server from Apple, it won't be hard to distribute Xserve through the channel. VARs are key to helping Apple break into enterprise markets where it's not traditionally strong, he added.

"In some markets, the best way to attract customers is through VARs," Cook said.

The professional video market is a big emerging vertical for Apple, where VARs play a key role, Cook said, noting that in the past year Apple has added 150 VARs in that market alone. With Xserve, Apple also will target the education, creative and biotechnology segments, he said.

At the Xserve launch, Apple also unveiled vendor partnerships designed to enable leading database and system management software to run on Xserve. Oracle and Sybase pledged to support Xserve on the database side, and Hewlett-Packard plans to make its OpenView system management software compatible with the OS Xplatform. Software makers Adobe Systems, 4D, Dantz, FileMaker and Platform also committed to support Xserve.

In addition, Apple previewed a new high-performance RAID storage product with industry-standard 2-Gbyte Fibre Channel capability. The product is slated to be introduced later this year.