As MacWorld approaches, Apple has today some announcements
to make. The Cupertino
company has launched a new version of its Xserve, 1U rack-optimized server,
which is now twice as fast as its predecessor.
Beside a new architecture, the new Xserve features up to two
Quad-Core 3.0 GHz Intel Xeon processors for 8-core performance, up to 3TB of
internal storage and up to 32GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory for a 64
percent increase in memory throughput.
Intel built the chips for data processing centers like
render farms (3D/CGI rendering), for simultaneous design and analysis
transactions and for managing faster analytics for industries such as financial
services.
“With the latest Intel processors and no client access
licenses, Xserve offers unbeatable server performance and value for under
$3,000,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide
Product Marketing. “Xserve’s power, storage and Leopard Server make it ideal
for supporting Mac clients and mixed platform workgroups.”
Also, Xserve now includes built-in accelerated graphics to
drive up to a 23-inch Apple Cinema Display and a new front-facing USB 2.0 port.
Using Apple’s Server Monitor, an administrator can remotely turn Xserve on or
off and manage server software from anywhere on the network. Thanks to the
introduction of the two PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots, Xserve is able to provide
up to four times the I/O bandwidth of the previous Xserve to support the latest
high-bandwidth expansion cards including multi-channel 4Gb Fibre channel and
10Gb Ethernet cards, Apple said.
Also, Apple announced a new Mac Pro, a Techzilla with eight
processor cores, the combines two of Intel’s new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon
processors running up to 3.2 GHz with the the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics
card with 256MB of video memory. In addition, the new Mac Pro supports the
latest generation of graphics cards from NVIDIA, such as the NVIDIA GeForce
8800 GT with 512MB of video memory, or NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 with 1.5GB of
video memory and a 3-D stereo port for stereo-in-a-window applications.
The Mac Pro features four four 1TB Serial ATA hard drives,
totaling 4TB of internal storage and support for two SuperDrives. With optional
15000 rpm SAS drives that can deliver up to 250MB/s of RAID 5 disk I/O performance,
the Mac Pro is ideal for film and video editors.
The Mac Pro is easily and conveniently accessible in front
and back so users can connect external devices with five USB 2.0, two FireWire
400, two FireWire 800, optical and analog audio in and out, dual Gigabit
Ethernet ports and a headphone jack.
“The new Mac Pro is the fastest Mac we’ve ever made,” said
Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.
“With 3.2 GHz 8-core Xeon processing, a 1600 MHz front side bus and 800 MHz
memory, the new Mac Pro uses the fastest Intel Xeon architecture on the market.”
The standard 8-core Mac Pro has a suggested retail price of $2,799.
