Archive notice: This article was originally published on January 8, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
“Thanks to the latest Intel processors and the licence for an unlimited number of clients, Xserve offers unbeatable server performance and maximum value for less than €2,900,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The Xserve’s performance and storage capacity, combined with Leopard Server, make it the perfect server for Mac clients and workgroups operating across different platforms.”
The new Xserve can be configured with up to two Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 processors, each running at up to 3.0 GHz and each with access to 12 MB of L2 cache. It also features a new high-bandwidth hardware architecture, dual independent 1600 MHz front-side buses and up to 32 GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory, providing a 64 percent increase in memory throughput**. Two PCI Express 2.0 slots offer up to four times the I/O throughput of the predecessor model and therefore support the latest high-bandwidth expansion cards, including multi-channel 4 Gb Fibre Channel and 10 Gb Ethernet cards.
The new Xserve has a new USB 2.0 port on the front and ships with improved built-in graphics that can now drive a 23-inch Cinema HD Display. With Apple’s Server Monitor, a network administrator can remotely switch Xserve on and off and manage server software from anywhere on the network. Each of Xserve’s three drive bays can be configured with 73 GB or 300 GB SAS drives, or 80 GB and 1 TB SATA hard drives. This enables an optimal mix of high performance and enormous storage capacity for a wide range of server applications. Apple offers an optional internal hardware RAID expansion card. It supports RAID levels 0, 1 and 5, has 256 MB cache and a backup battery providing up to 72 hours of data protection in cache memory. The Xserve RAID card delivers up to 251 MB/s of RAID 5 performance*** for the most demanding server workloads without using either of the two valuable PCI Express expansion slots.
The new Xserve improves energy efficiency thanks to Intel’s 45-nanometre Core microarchitecture technology. The processors require a maximum of 80 watts and their consumption falls to just 4 watts when idle. The power supplies exceed the US Department of Energy’s Energy Star recommendations, while Apple’s thermal-management technology cools the systems very efficiently in a wide range of environments and keeps power consumption as low as possible.
Every Xserve ships with a pre-installed Leopard Server version for an unlimited number of clients. Leopard Server offers full 64-bit support, easy-to-use management tools and cross-platform support for Mac, Linux and Windows clients. Leopard Server is fully UNIX compatible and extends Apple’s renowned ease of use by introducing 250 new features, including Podcast Producer, an ideal tool for automatically publishing podcasts to iTunes and the web; Wiki Server, which lets people create and edit shared websites, known as wikis, in only a few mouse clicks; and iCal Server, the world’s first commercial calendar server to use the open CalDAV standard.
Prices & availability
The new Xserve is available from today in the Apple Store (www.applestore.de) and from Apple specialist retailers. The base configuration for €2,899 including VAT includes:
- one 64-bit 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Xeon processor with 12 MB L2 cache and a 1600 MHz front-side bus;
- 2 GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM RAM, expandable to 32 GB;
- one 80 GB SATA Apple drive module;
- integrated dual Gigabit Ethernet;
- integrated graphics;
- two FireWire 800 and three USB 2.0 ports; and
- a Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard Server licence for any number of clients.
Beyond the standard configuration, Xserve offers numerous build-to-order expansion options and accessories, including dual 2.8 or 3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors; 80 GB and 1 TB 7200 rpm SATA or 73 GB or 300 GB 15,000 rpm SAS Apple drives; an internal Xserve RAID card; Gigabit Ethernet, 4 Gb Fibre Channel and U320 SCSI expansion-card options; and an additional 750-watt power supply.
