Apple bites into storage market
Apple bites into storage market
Apple is increasingly moving into the enterprise market and now it wants to play for storage customers with its new Xserve RAID rack storage device.
The 3U rack system provides end users with 2.5TB or capacity and performance is claimed to be 400MB per second. True to Apple form, introduction prices are competitive and joining the price equation argument circulating in the storage market Apple claims Xserve costs just AU$8 per gigabyte.
Xserve has 14 independent ATA/100 drive channels, which provide the 2.5TB of storage. Dual independent RAID controllers provide 1GB of cache memory for full redundant storage; and supports a dual 2GB Fibre Channel. Apple said each of the 180GB drive modules use a dedicated drive channel, which maximises the 400MB per second Fibre Channel host connection.
Other features Apple has added to the Xserve include an accessible enclosure and a modular component design, this they claim adds to the serviceability and redundancy of the device. Power and cooling modules can be hot-swapped to prevent interruptions to service. Should the drive fail data remains accessible through a spare drive. To alert users to any problems, Xserve has indicator lights on the front and the rear and an alarm system.
Administration is carried out via Apple's Java based RAID-Admin application, which automatically sends an alert email.
Australian end users can expect the Xserve to be available from Apple's Australian branch office or local appointed resellers in March.
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