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Xserve Refresh Coming Within the Next Week or Two?

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Apr 12, 2001
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AppleInsider reports that Apple may release updated versions of its Xserve rackmountable server computers within the next few weeks. The new models are expected to utilize new Intel Xeon 3500 "Bloomfield" processors, as well as the same Xeon 5500 "Gainestown" processors found in the new Mac Pro but only officially introduced yesterday.
New models, should they follow the same configuration format, would therefore include a single processor model capable of accepting 2.66GHz, 2.93GHz, and 3.2GHz quad-core Bloomfield chips and a dual-pocessor model that would take two 2.26GHz, 2.66GHz, 2.8GHz, or 2.93GHz quad-core Gainestown chips.

"Gainestown" is also available in 2.4GHz, 2.53GHz, and 3.2GHz variants, though Apple has expressed little interest in these parts thus far.
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AppleInsider notes that Apple's online store is showing shipping times of 5-7 business days for the Xserve, down from a 1-2 week window offered late last week, suggesting that a refresh may be just around the corner. Apple Store representatives are also reportedly informing Xserve customers of possible short-term delays to their orders.

Article Link: Xserve Refresh Coming Within the Next Week or Two?
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2009/03/31/xserve-refresh-coming-within-the-next-week-or-two/
It is nice to see Apple still cares about the enterprise markets. They still don't have a blade solution like all of their competitors but an updated xServe at least states they want to stay in the market.
 
I hope the storage capacity is significantly increased. 6TB (with three 2TB drives) would be nice.
 
I'd love to know the sales figures on the Xserve. They must be minuscule. It's hard to believe the whole line is worth bothering with at all.
 
I work in server rooms for clients all over the world, and only once did I see a rack full of xservs and xraids. I'm curious about how many customers Apple has for these products. They are great for large final cut editing suites in post production facilities, but I can't imagine that there are really that many of those in existence.
 
Rejoice, for Apple's finest computer is being updated!
Hopefully they'll keep 2 x FW 800 in the back!
Fibre Channel should be as standard!!
 
zombitronic said:
I hope the storage capacity is significantly increased. 6TB (with three 2TB drives) would be nice.
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Apple probably won't offer these by default, but you can always buy them yourself surely? Are the Apple Drive Modules not just special cases for hot-plugging? I'd be surprised if you can't just fire a load of drives from elsewhere into the machine.

I may be getting a dedicated server-machine some time in the future, and XServes are on the top of my list of possibilities, I'd probably go for the middle model (whatever the minimum dual-processor set-up is) and put a RAID card in and three good-sized, high-speed SAS drives.
I'll need to investigate where to get RAM I suppose, as the Apple RAM prices on the current XServe models are pretty ridiculous as it is, I got 8gb of the same type of RAM for my "Early 2008" Mac Pro and it only set me back $400-500 yet they still want $1400 for 6gb?
 
There are over 300 Xserves deployed at my [large research-based] university, and I just returned one a few weeks ago (sealed) when the new Xeon processors came out. I had until June 30 to make a purchase, and so it made sense for us to send it right back and wait a little bit.

Apple may not have the largest share of the server market, but it is still a profitable arm of its corporate business.
 
The current Xserves use a maximum of 2 80 W CPUs. If Apple stays this way, the fastest 80 W Xeon is 2.53 GHz.
 
haravikk said:
Apple probably won't offer these by default, but you can always buy them yourself surely? Are the Apple Drive Modules not just special cases for hot-plugging? I'd be surprised if you can't just fire a load of drives from elsewhere into the machine.
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You can, but the current capacity is only 3TB.
 
schneb said:
Lackluster specs at a higher price? Seems to be the recent trend.
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I'm betting on exactly the same case, with no Firewire, slightly faster CPUs, still one 80gb drive as standard, and a $250 price hike...
 
I work in an all Mac district w/ easily 3 dozen xServes spread throughout the district. Each school has an IBM server for some Windows-only software, but still.

I wonder how much of a speed boost Virginia Tech's System X would get if they replaced their G5 xServes with Nehalem xServes. Add in Snow Leopard and wow!
 
I have two in a small business, they work flawlessly. Prevents me from needing a IT department, really easy to set up and use for both Mac and Windows computers.
 
I think the benchmarks of these will show promise - will be interesting to see how Apple re-benchmarks all their Macs, and this new XServe, once 10.6 gets demoed/released.
 
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