PRESS RELEASE
01 July 2002
Apple Ships First Xserve Rack-Mount Servers to Customers
Performance Tests Show Xserve Outperforms More Expensive Servers
CUPERTINO, California - July 1st, 2002
Apple today announced that is has begunshipping Xserve, its powerful new rack-mount server, and has received ordersfor over 4,000 Xserve units since its introduction in May. Apple alsoannounced that industry-standard performance tests show Xserve outperformsmore expensive, similarly configured server offerings in Web serving, diskperformance and running the mission-critical Biotech application BLAST.
“We introduced Xserve only a few weeks ago, and we've already receivedorders for over 4,000 of them”, said Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president, Worldwide Product Marketing. “Xserve's G4 processing power, massive storage, incredible I/O performance and Mac OS X Server softwarewith unlimited-client licences are making it a hit with customers who wantan affordable, powerful 1U rack-mount server”.
Industry-standard tests show Xserve delivers exceptional performance,outclassing more expensive, similarly configured servers from Dell, IBM andSun. As measured side-by-side in Web serving, BLAST implementation and diskperformance, Xserve outperforms its competitors in the following ways:
Apache Web Server:
Xserve can support 60 percent more connections on an Apache Web Server thanan IBM eServer x330. Under industry-standard WebBench* performancebenchmarks, an Xserve running Apache on Mac OS X Server can support 4,051Web connections per second compared to 2,547 connections per second on anIBM eServer x330 running Apache on Linux. Xserve provides an affordable androbust server platform for even the most industrial strength Webapplications.
Xserve can support 60 percent more connections on an Apache Web Server thanan IBM eServer x330. Under industry-standard WebBench* performancebenchmarks, an Xserve running Apache on Mac OS X Server can support 4,051Web connections per second compared to 2,547 connections per second on anIBM eServer x330 running Apache on Linux. Xserve provides an affordable androbust server platform for even the most industrial strength Webapplications.
BLAST implementation:
Xserve is up to 19 times faster than Sun for DNA searches running BLAST.This is based on a standard search of over 34MB of data, with Xserve runningApple/Genentech BLAST, a Sun Fire V100 running NCBI BLAST on Solaris and anIBM x330 running NCBI BLAST on Linux. On a word length of 8, Apple's Xserveis nearly 8 times faster than IBM and over 19 times faster than Sun. On aword length of 40, Xserve is 5.8 times faster than IBM and 13.9 times fasterthan Sun. An Xserve running Apple/Genentech BLAST reduces search time fromhours to minutes for the kinds of gene searches life sciences customersperform every day.
Xserve is up to 19 times faster than Sun for DNA searches running BLAST.This is based on a standard search of over 34MB of data, with Xserve runningApple/Genentech BLAST, a Sun Fire V100 running NCBI BLAST on Solaris and anIBM x330 running NCBI BLAST on Linux. On a word length of 8, Apple's Xserveis nearly 8 times faster than IBM and over 19 times faster than Sun. On aword length of 40, Xserve is 5.8 times faster than IBM and 13.9 times fasterthan Sun. An Xserve running Apple/Genentech BLAST reduces search time fromhours to minutes for the kinds of gene searches life sciences customersperform every day.
Disk performance:
Apple's integrated hardware and software and a unique independent ATA drivearchitecture allow Xserve to offer higher disk performance at a lower costthan SCSI drive based servers. Xserve provides performance of over 110MBusing a four way ATA RAID stripe compared with a Dell PowerEdge 1650 withhardware RAID controller with a three way SCSI RAID stripe which providesonly around 70MB sustained throughput.
Apple's integrated hardware and software and a unique independent ATA drivearchitecture allow Xserve to offer higher disk performance at a lower costthan SCSI drive based servers. Xserve provides performance of over 110MBusing a four way ATA RAID stripe compared with a Dell PowerEdge 1650 withhardware RAID controller with a three way SCSI RAID stripe which providesonly around 70MB sustained throughput.
Xserve provides an industry leading balance of performance, capacity andprice. Its dual 1GHz PowerPC G4 processors each have 2MB of Double DataRate (DDR) L3 cache and DDR SDRAM memory with up to 2GB capacity. Xserveoffers best-in-class storage, with up to 480GB on four hot-plug ATA/100drives, and best-in-class networking with standard dual Gigabit Ethernetports. Xserve includes an unlimited-client licence for Mac OS X Serversoftware, offering users a perfect combination for file/print services, videostreaming, database applications, computational clustering and Web and mailserving.
Apple offers a choice of world-class services and support programmes forXserve including four hour on-site response, 24x7 technical support, AppleCareService Parts Kits and the AppleCare Professional SupportLineprogramme.
Pricing & Availability
Xserve is available in the UK immediately through the Apple Store and through Apple Authorised Resellers.Xserve comes in two standard configurations, or can be fully customised tomeet specific customer requirements. The two standard configurations are:
Xserve is available in the UK immediately through the Apple Store and through Apple Authorised Resellers.Xserve comes in two standard configurations, or can be fully customised tomeet specific customer requirements. The two standard configurations are:
- single 1GHz PowerPC G4 processor, 256MB DDR RAM, 60GB ATA/100 AppleDrive Module, dual Gigabit Ethernet, CD-ROM and Mac OS X Server withunlimited clients for a suggested selling price of £2,212 ex VAT (£2,599 incVAT); and
- dual 1GHz PowerPC G4 processors, 512MB DDR RAM, 60GB ATA/100 Apple DriveModule, dual Gigabit Ethernet, CD-ROM and Mac OS X Server with unlimitedclients for a suggested selling price of £2,978 ex VAT (£3,499 inc VAT)
* WebBench(TM) is a trademark of Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc., anaffiliate of eTesting Labs Inc. in the US and other countries. The testrun by Apple used Ziff Davis Media's WebBench version 4.1 with thestandard test suite STATIC_WB41.TST
Press Contacts:
Apple UK and Ireland Public Relations
Email: media.uk@apple.com
Phone: +44 (0)20 8218 1440
Apple UK and Ireland Public Relations
Email: media.uk@apple.com
Phone: +44 (0)20 8218 1440
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