New Xserve: The Most Powerful Apple Server To Date

Starting at $2,999, the new Xserve has up to two Quad-Core 3.0 GHz Intel Xeon processors for 8-core performance, a new server architecture, faster front side buses, faster memory, up to 3TB of internal storage and two PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots for greater performance and flexibility.

Apple’s new Xserve, a 1U rack-optimized server that is up to twice as fast as its predecessor, includes an unlimited client license for Mac OS X Server Leopard.

Xserve includes built-in accelerated graphics to drive up to a 23-inch Apple Cinema Display and a new front-facing USB 2.0 port. Using Apple’s Server Monitor, an administrator can remotely turn Xserve on or off and manage server software from anywhere on the network. Each of Xserve’s three drive bays can be configured with 73GB or 300GB SAS drives or 80GB and 1TB SATA drives, providing a mix of high performance and vast storage capabilities for a wide range of server applications.

Apple offers a hardware RAID card option that delivers hardware RAID levels 0, 1 and 5 with 256MB of cache and an included backup battery for up to 72 hours of cached data protection. The Xserve RAID card delivers up to 251MB/s RAID 5 performance for the most demanding server workloads, without using a valuable PCI Express expansion slot.

Additionally, the new Xserve has improved energy efficiency through use of Intel’s 45 nanometer core micro-architecture technology. Processors now draw a maximum consumption of 80W and can drop as low as 4W when idle. Power supplies exceed Energy Star recommendations from the US Department of Energy and Apple’s thermal management technology cools the systems efficiently in a wide variety of environments, further reducing power consumption. Every Xserve ships with a pre-installed, unlimited client edition of Leopard Server software that offers 64-bit support, management tools and support for Mac, Linux and Windows clients.

Leopard Server is fully UNIX compliant and extends Apple’s legendary ease of use by introducing over 250 new features, including Podcast Producer, the ideal way to automatically publish podcasts to iTunes or the web; Wiki Server, allowing people to collaboratively create and modify their shared web sites with just a few clicks; and iCal Server, the world’s first commercial CalDAV standard-based calendar server.

The Xserve standard configuration, with a suggested retail price of $2,999 (US), includes:

A single 64-bit 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Xeon processor with 12MB of L2 cache and a 1600 Mhz front side bus; 2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM RAM, expandable up to 32GB; a single 80GB SATA Apple Drive Module; dual Gigabit Ethernet on-board; internal graphics; two FireWire 800 and three USB 2.0 ports; and an unlimited client license for Mac OS X Server version 10.5 Leopard.

Upgrade or build-to-order options and accessories:

Dual 2.8 or 3.0 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors; 80GB and 1TB 7200 rpm SATA or 73GB or 300GB 15,000rpm SAS Apple Drive Modules; internal Xserve RAID card; Gigabit Ethernet, 4Gb Fibre Channel and U320 SCSI expansion card options, and a 750W redundant power supply.