Apple's Xserve Grabs the Spotlight

By Mark Hall

July 1, 2002 12:00 PM ET

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Computerworld - Apple Computer caught the industry off guard with the recent announcement of its Mac OS X-based Xserve servers, but users and analysts say that so far, they like what they see.
The new rack-mount servers are 1U (1.75 in.) high and feature dual 1-GHz PowerPC processors. They go head-to-head with products from Dell Computer Corp., IBM and others, says Tim Deal, an analyst at Technology Business Research Inc. in Hampton, N.H.
John Welch, IS manager for the MIT Police Department, calculates that Apple's Xserve, with its unlimited client user license, is less expensive than many comparably equipped Linux servers.
Welch also likes the fact that Xserve uses a board that's 28 in. long - a common design for telecommunications equipment - to better dissipate heat. Competing servers require up to eight cooling fans. He says he also appreciates Apple's choice of Double Data Rate (DDR) memory over the more expensive and pokier Error Correction Code (ECC) RAM.


	Apple's Xserve rack accommodates up to 42 servers in a single industry-standard 310-D 19-in. enclosure. Prices start at $2,999.

The danger of DDR RAM is that fatal memory errors, rare as they may be, are more likely to occur than they are with ECC memory. Welch and Digital Forest Vice President Chuck Goolsbee agree that sensitive applications such as databases wouldn't be ideally suited for DDR, but for Web servers, firewalls and other environments, the small risk is worth the extra savings and increased speed.
Ultimately, "price/performance is going to win, because everyone is price-sensitive these days," Goolsbee says.

Read more about operating systems in Computerworld's Operating Systems Knowledge Center.

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