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Sonnet Announces Mac Pro 4U Rackmount Enclosure and Expansion Chassis

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,444
30,651



Sonnet has announced a 4U rackmount enclosure and expansion chassis for the new Mac Pro, allowing users to horizontally mount their Mac Pro in a standard data center rack with PCIe expansion capabilities.

The xMac Pro Server includes three PCIe single-width expansion slots, with room for one double-width and one single-width card, Thunderbolt 2 compatibility, and a mounting kit for additional storage or optical drives. On the back, the rack includes three USB 3.0 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, and an HDMI port, with a single USB 3.0 port on the front. It includes a 300W power supply and a 75W PCIe power connector for supplemental power to certain power-hungry PCIe cards.

xmacproserver.jpg
The new Mac Pro has become the object of desire, but a lustrous finish hides its true beauty--the massive power within. If you're a pro user in the video or audio industries, the Mac Pro offers the power you need, but lacks the built-in expandability you count on. In order to achieve this engineering feat, Apple® designers stripped away components and space to a minimum, taking out PCIe slots and drive bays, and packed the remaining components into a small cylinder. Its compact size makes the new Mac Pro more transportable and rackable, but prevents onboard installation of PCIe expansion cards. In addition, the computer still requires an enclosure to make it road- or rack-ready and provide convenient cable management. Sonnet's xMac Pro Server PCIe expansion system/4U rackmount enclosure addresses these issues and increases a Mac Pro's potential in a big way.
Click to expand...
Sonnet claims the xMac Pro Server will ship in early June, offering a sign-up sheet for interested customers on its website. It has a suggested price of $1,499.

The company announced Thunderbolt docking stations nearly a year ago but has delayed shipment several times.

Update 12:35PM 3/27/2014: Pricing information added.

Article Link: Sonnet Announces Mac Pro 4U Rackmount Enclosure and Expansion Chassis
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/03/26/mac-pro-racmount/
KindredMAC

KindredMAC

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2003
975
218
Great design! Can't wait to see one with two MacPros interconnected in the same enclosure some day.
 
S

Squirrel

macrumors member
Jul 15, 2001
33
33
Sonnet, How about shipping the Echo 15 Thunderbolt Dock that you announced a year ago.
 
sigmadog

sigmadog

macrumors 6502a
Feb 11, 2009
835
753
just west of Idaho
Can't help but wonder what effect the horizontal configuration of the nMP will have on thermal control. It seems to me optimal cooling comes in the vertical position. I wonder if buyers of this rack will have heating issues.
 
B

benguild

macrumors 6502a
Jul 29, 2003
827
39
This seems stupid. Why not just have multiple Mac Minis in a single 1 or 2U enclosure?
 
rrm74001

rrm74001

macrumors 6502
Nov 11, 2008
290
336
Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.
 
K

kwikdeth

macrumors 65816
Feb 25, 2003
1,139
1,709
Tempe, AZ
Steve121178 said:
Ugly?!? What are you talking about? Who cares, it's rack mounted!
Click to expand...

there are plenty of rack-mount cases out there that gave more than 15 minutes consideration to appearance. the discontinued X-Serve line is one of them. At the DC i used to work at, people would regularly ask "wow, what hardware is that?" when passing the one rack full of x-serves.

iStar, whilst not having the best quality reputation for their power supplies, makes a whole series of designer rackmount cases for workstations and recording studio use.
 
C

czeano

macrumors newbie
Aug 11, 2011
24
0
Hope the production one has rails. Having more than one of those in a rack with just ears on the front would be a royal pain.

Also, all the mac mini versions of these things are as expensive as a whole other server. Even if you're committed to OSX, it's a hard pill to swallow. I expect this model will be comparably ridiculous.

It also kinda needs a video port on the front for when you have to roll out the crash cart. USB alone won't cut it.
 
K

kolax

macrumors G3
Mar 20, 2007
9,181
115
Why is everyone moaning about the design? This is a rack mount enclosure. It's meant to go in a rack like this:

IMG_0256.jpg


Server racks aren't things people have on display - they are space preservative mounts to house multiple devices stacked. This Mac Pro rack mount will be very useful for studios.
 
F

Frazzle

macrumors regular
Mar 1, 2007
206
78
Steve121178 said:
Ugly?!? What are you talking about? Who cares, it's rack mounted!
Click to expand...

But, but, there's no pretty lights on it! No greenish or blueish display, nothing! Especially in the music business, I've seen things in racks that actually look nice and/or impressive. At least give it a 4mm thick aluminum fascia with some class.

Nice challenge for the people who regularly mock up stuff on here?


Anyway, it's good to see that the guy who designed the original IBM PC still gets the odd job.
 
3

3282868

macrumors 603
Jan 8, 2009
5,281
0
Darn it, this is EXACTLY what I was looking for but gave up hope and grabbed a Promise Pegasus2 R4 via B&H. I wonder if I could return/exchange it? The optical drive capability is perfect, I still need a Blu-Ray burner for work projects and the USB external drive pales in comparison to the LG SATA optical burner w/ Lightscribe.

Worst case, are there Thunderbolt containers for internal SATA Blu-Ray drives?
 
Parasprite

Parasprite

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2013
1,698
144
kwikdeth said:
there are plenty of rack-mount cases out there that gave more than 15 minutes consideration to appearance. the discontinued X-Serve line is one of them. At the DC i used to work at, people would regularly ask "wow, what hardware is that?" when passing the one rack full of x-serves.

iStar, whilst not having the best quality reputation for their power supplies, makes a whole series of designer rackmount cases for workstations and recording studio use.
Click to expand...

I would probably pass this one and assume it ran XP.
 
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