Apple to discontinue Xserve after Jan. 31, 2011
Apple this week announced the discontinuation of Xserve, revealing it will support but no longer offer its rackmounted servers after Jan. 31, 2011.
The announcement appeared on Apple's Xserve site Friday, notifying users of the upcoming deadline. It also features a PDF for the "Xserve Transition Guide."
Apple will not be developing a future version of Xserve, leaving customers looking for a Mac-based server option to choose between the Mac Pro with Snow Leopard Server, or the Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server. Both systems will be available for customers looking to upgrade, replace or supplement existing Xserve systems.
Xserve orders will be accepted through Jan. 31, 2011, including the 160GB, 1TB, and 2TB models, and those purchases will be backed by Apple's full one-year warranty.
"Customers can rest assured that Intel-based Xserve systems will continue to provide useful service during and after this transition," Apple's transition guide reads.
The documentation notes that the 12-core Mac Pro with Snow Leopard Server meets or exceeds the performance of the baseline Xserve hardware. The Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server, on the other hand, is significantly outperformed by Xserve, but it has been Apple's most popular server system since its introduction in the fall of 2009.
The Xserve hardware was upgraded to Intel's Nehalem-based Xeon processor in April of 2009. Customers can still buy a 1U rack-optimized system with one quad-core 2.26GHz system starting at $2,999, or a system with two processors starting at $3,599.
In June, Apple updated its Mac mini line, giving the Snow Leopard Server offering a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor for $999. The new Mac Pro, with up to 12 processing cores, was announced in July and launched in August.
The announcement appeared on Apple's Xserve site Friday, notifying users of the upcoming deadline. It also features a PDF for the "Xserve Transition Guide."
Apple will not be developing a future version of Xserve, leaving customers looking for a Mac-based server option to choose between the Mac Pro with Snow Leopard Server, or the Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server. Both systems will be available for customers looking to upgrade, replace or supplement existing Xserve systems.
Xserve orders will be accepted through Jan. 31, 2011, including the 160GB, 1TB, and 2TB models, and those purchases will be backed by Apple's full one-year warranty.
"Customers can rest assured that Intel-based Xserve systems will continue to provide useful service during and after this transition," Apple's transition guide reads.
The documentation notes that the 12-core Mac Pro with Snow Leopard Server meets or exceeds the performance of the baseline Xserve hardware. The Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server, on the other hand, is significantly outperformed by Xserve, but it has been Apple's most popular server system since its introduction in the fall of 2009.
The Xserve hardware was upgraded to Intel's Nehalem-based Xeon processor in April of 2009. Customers can still buy a 1U rack-optimized system with one quad-core 2.26GHz system starting at $2,999, or a system with two processors starting at $3,599.
In June, Apple updated its Mac mini line, giving the Snow Leopard Server offering a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor for $999. The new Mac Pro, with up to 12 processing cores, was announced in July and launched in August.
Comments
Apple *should* have been able to do well in the server market. There is a lot of complicated crap in there, and a server with the simplicity of a Mac should have taken off.
But OS X Server was never that great of a product. The GUI might have used Cocoa but that's where the Mac-ness/simplicity ended. Also there is a lot of irrational hate of Apple with IT admins, and they need servers with comprehensive support/on-sire repair.
I hope OS X server isn't discontinued, but with Java now deprecated (which is primarily a server side tech these days, on the Mac at least) it makes you wonder is OS X server is not next, and the new Mac Pro server is just temporary placation.
Edit: I think the white Macbook should go next. They don't need 3 lines of laptop.
What rill they use in Apple server farms?
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I have been with you Apple since OS 6.03 and I am tired of the playing, if you want to compete in industry then you need a rack server.
otherwise give up the OS and we will all suffer using linux or cannot bare to say it windows
How should Apple be taken seriously after that.
The transition from xserve to Macmini is just laughable.
1 less Mac model.
Apple *should* have been able to do well in the server market. There is a lot of complicated crap in there, and a server with the simplicity of a Mac should have taken off.
This is why I've advocated either licensing OSX or resurrecting the Power Computing name as a wholly owned subsidiary for business. Apple gets fun consumer things but they don't get business customers. They keep trying to push the consumer side's business model on corporate customers. What they need is people who think not like Apple, but more like Dell or HP but can also leverage Apple's innovations. They should have bought Sun when they had the chance.
Sad indeed for those of us who respected them as a computer company. I'm predicting $50 a share in a few years, once the hype around the iPhone and iPad dies down and competition establishes itself - Apple now has a very fickle and uneducated consumer base, one good competitive product will bring them down.
All they needed to do was put 4 drives in instead of 3. I wonder what's gonna go in the big datacenter(s)? Perhaps OS X Server will come out on Dell? Wait - I know - Apple's gonna buy IBM...
p.s. the Mac Pro will go next...
I'll be buying whatever model Mac Pro they EOL and then Hackintoshing when it becomes too old for real work.
A joke!
Do they really think I can put MacPro´s in server halls and in larger companies? Bye bye Apple in enterprise...
And they'll bring it back in less than two years when people who need servers stop buying (and making) Apple products at all. This is abject nonsense. PROOF that Apple couldn't care less about their professionals, much less their computer department at all.
I'll be buying whatever model Mac Pro they EOL and then Hackintoshing when it becomes too old for real work.
Yes, Apple has constantly screwed their professional user base over the last few years. No concept of what business users require.
Fail.
This decision will polarize people for sure. Let the games begin.
It makes perfect sense. It is unlikely that they make much money from that product line.
Next to be discontinued: High end Mac workstations.
1 less Mac model.
Apple *should* have been able to do well in the server market. There is a lot of complicated crap in there, and a server with the simplicity of a Mac should have taken off.
But OS X Server was never that great of a product. The GUI might have used Cocoa but that's where the Mac-ness/simplicity ended. Also there is a lot of irrational hate of Apple with IT admins, and they need servers with comprehensive support/on-sire repair.
I hope OS X server isn't discontinued, but with Java now deprecated (which is primarily a server side tech these days, on the Mac at least) it makes you wonder is OS X server is not next, and the new Mac Pro server is just temporary placation.
Edit: I think the white Macbook should go next. They don't need 3 lines of laptop.
These were actually pretty good servers. But Apple never seemed to have a lot of interest in the line. It was said for a long time that they needed to have more than a one rack height version so companies would be able to expand into more powerful models, but they never did that. In addition, blade models would have been popular, but Apple never had an interest in those either.
Really, they kicked themselves in their own foot. What does this mean for their new enterprise push? It doesn't look good to me.
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What rill they use in Apple server farms?
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The big iron.
What does this mean for their new enterprise push? It doesn't look good to me.
New enterprise push? I must have missed that.
What other things have happened which show that Apple had a new enterprise push? I thought that they announced at some public presentation that they had little interest in the enterprise.
What new enterprise push?
Does anybody but me think that they could possibly announce a replacement to the Xserve? You know, get rid of the name, make a significant spec bump, redesign, kind of an "Apple reinvents the server" kind of update? I don't know, I just have a hard time believing the mac mini server is all they're going to have. It's good for small businesses, but not enough for corporations.
Nope, it's just you... (no offense
Apple doesn't have the clout to reinvent the 19" rack. They're walking away from a multi-billion dollar market, when all they have to do is hire a couple of IBM/HP/Dell and mostly unhappy Sun execs, and keep Steve off their backs for a couple of years. Wait... I think I've spotted the problem...
It makes perfect sense. It is unlikely that they make much money from that product line.
Next to be discontinued: High end Mac workstations.
If you mean Mac Pro's loaded out, I disagree. No way they kill that line. I have a system that needs another Mac Pro (12 core) in place to run an internal service at work. No machine except the XServe or MacPro has the horsepower to do this. There is no way Apple kills the Mac Pro.
I have considered the Xserve in the past but it just didn't fit our needs. I could easily see how it may fit other's needs and I am curious to why Apple has done this. To me, it doesn't make sense unless Steve feels like he only wants the End User part of the enterprise business.
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What rill they use in Apple server farms?
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here
A disgrace!
A joke!
Do they really think I can put MacPro´s in server halls and in larger companies? Bye bye Apple in enterprise...
'bye bye'? they never were in the enterprise. they never worked at getting in the enterprise and no one really uses them except for here and there a lonely xserv ha.
they needed to just stop pretending they could compete and get out.
they are a 'mobile' company now anyway right?