Apple Computer will today (14 May) unveil its first dedicated
rack-mount server as it attempts to flesh out its line of server
hardware used by customers in key markets.
Few details have been revealed about the product ahead of its
debut. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs gave a brief preview of the
server during his keynote address last week at the Worldwide
Developer Conference in San Jose, California, USA.
What is known is that the hardware takes up 2U (3.5 inches) of
vertical space and will run a server version of the company's Mac
OS X operating system. A photograph of the product shown briefly at
Apple's conference suggested a black and silver design in keeping
with the company's penchant for stylish hardware.
Long anticipated by Mac enthusiasts, analysts this week said they
expect the server to be an important addition to Apple's product
line for such tasks as file serving, print serving, e-mail serving
and Web hosting.
"I would see this as being predominately a complementary product
for the markets where Apple plays," said Gordon Haff, a server
analyst with research company Illuminata. "If you're Apple, you
don't really want someone bringing a Windows server in if you've
got the desktop environment sewn up.
"It will do pretty much all the functions that small servers are
used for," he added.
The size and shape of rack-mounted servers provides a convenient
way for storing large numbers of them in a small space. Space
issues can be particularly acute at schools, some analysts said,
traditionally an Apple stronghold.
"The trend has been more and more toward rack-mount servers," Haff
said. "They are more and more common even in small and medium-sized
businesses."
One thing that has facilitated the debut of Apple's rack-mounted
server is the release of the company's latest operating system
which is touted as being more stable than previous versions and can
support systems running on multiple processors.
"For a long time Apple really didn't have an operating system that
allowed it to be able to sell a mid-range server. It wasn't set up
for that," said Dan Kusnetzky, vice-president of systems software
research with IDC, in Framingham, Massachusetts.
Apple currently offers server towers running versions of its
operating system. For a short time it sold these running IBM's AIX
operating system, a Unix variant, Kusnetzky said.
In its early days, the company also offered its own version of
Unix, called A/UX, according to Haff. "They were never really
successful with it," he said. "They made a bit of a play in the
low-end server space, but we're talking about relatively ancient
history here."
Thanks to its ties to Unix, "Mac OS X has the potential of going
anywhere Unix goes," Kusnetzky said, citing examples such as small
embedded appliance servers, mid-range servers and mainframe
servers. "As a category, Unix covers the gamut, from the very, very
small to the very, very large," he added.