There is a subtle yet upsetting murmur echoing through the IT
industry. Believe it or not, its Xserve-centric. Apple's sleek new rack unit has
many hardened systems administrators reevaluating the Mac as a serious
contender in the technology delivery arena.
The concept of Mac servers floating out of Apple is not new at all.
Apple has sold G3 and G4 systems bundled with custom server software,
beefed up hard drives, and faster network connectivity for quite some
time. Before that, Apple offered standard models in a server
configuration, only modifying a few specifications in the process. They
even went as far as designing a massive "network server" solution in
the mid-90s. However, it would be accurate to sum up the response to
Apple's server efforts until now as, "yeah, whatever."
You're probably thinking, "So what's great about Xserve? It sure
sounds like another joke of a server from Apple." Well, you're dead
wrong.
Apple changed four main things about their server product.
Cumulatively, one killer server was born. The Xserve is the
quintessence of Steve Jobs' unyielding perfectionism. Unlike its
bastard predecessors, the Xserve is taking the industry by storm. Here
is why:
Operating System
Apple has brewed up a killer flavor of an Open Source Unix core,
appropriately named "Darwin." When paired with the world's most popular
Web server, Apache, and Apple's stunning proprietary Aqua interface, a
surefire winner was created: Mac OS X Server.
In the past, Apple had used a standard Mac OS and additional
software to turn it into a so-called server operating system. Although
it did work, many features of a robust server operating system were
absent. Therefore, AppleShare IP and other Mac OS-based server
solutions were scarcely used outside of Macintosh networks.
With the implementation of a Unix-core, Apple opened an unfathomable
number of doors. Not only could Mac networks be served, but also
Windows and Unix networks. A countless number of Unix server software
suites could easily be ported to run on Apple's OS.
Additionally, remote server administration and access via command
line was now available. By starting out the new breed of server
software with Open Source Unix, Apple declared they want to be a
serious contender.
Hardware
People become extremely biased towards a product simply based on
looks. Apple's previous servers, with exclusion of the Network Server
line, were essentially desktop and minitower Mac systems - visible
evidence to the average server shopper identified anything "Mac" as a
personal computer.
With Xserve, Apple has finally made a product that fits into a
standard server rack. The importance of that fact means that Apple's
product can be installed easily into datacenters that have existing
server racks. Racks are extensively used nowadays to keep hardware
organized and stored in a secure and space-saving fashion. Without
rackmountability, Apple's server product would get nowhere in
professional datacenters.
Performance
Apple has always been associated with sexy looking products and raw
power under the hood. However, an extra push would be needed to elevate
the personal Mac system architecture into something good enough to be
competitive with other server hardware. Apple did just that with the
Xserve by boosting the system bus speed and introducing DDR memory to
the Mac. With dual G4 processors running on a faster bus and
supercharged memory, Apple's hardware design is capable of blowing away
the competition.
Price
The critical make or break point of every purchase comes down to
price. No matter how good Apple's server product is, it won't take off
without a decent price.
Apple definitely scored extra points with product pricing. As far as
servers of this class go, Apple's Xserve is very competitively priced.
Many Intel-based units performing significantly poorer are priced as
much as twice that of the Xserve. I even recently read of an IT
administrator gushing about how he could get "two of these babies for
the price of one Intel."
Apple has failed before at the pricing game, but they sure nailed it
this time. Let's hope the momentum continues.
Now as Apple is being considered a major contender in the server
arena, their product is undeniably at the top of its league. The
essential points of a good operating system, innovative hardware,
excellent performance, and a good price make it a big winner.
Apple has always changed the way we think; now they're changing the
way others think about serving.
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