Info On Apple's Data Center
Apple drinks its own juice
Last modified: January 8, 2004, 3:29 PM PST
By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Reporter's notebook SAN FRANCISCO--Normally reluctant to discuss even what is served in the company cafeteria, secretive Apple Computer on Thursday offered a sneak peak into its data center.
Trying to make the case that its products belong in large companies, Apple showed how it runs its own business using a great deal of Apple gear.
The disclosures, offered by Apple senior IT director Dean Rally, came as part of a discussion on Apple's role in the enterprise during the "Mac IT" portion of this year's Macworld Expo.
Rally said Xserve is the mainstay of Apple's corporate data center, with the rack-mounted server being used to deliver Web pages, files and applications, as well as for authentication and security.
The company does use a smattering of Sun Microsystems servers to power, among other things, its e-mail systems. Apple also has some servers running IBM's AIX operating system.
As for software, the company does use Microsoft Office for the Mac, but uses its own products for most desktop tasks, including e-mail, instant messaging and Web browsing. As for enterprise applications, Apple is a longtime SAP customer, uses PeopleSoft 8 for customer relationship management and runs software from i2 for forecasting.
To store its data, Apple uses its own Xserve RAID boxes, along with storage from IBM and EMC. The company was once a large EMC customer, but it shifted more to IBM in recent years and is planning to migrate much of the work to Xserve RAID boxes in the coming year.
EMC products handle about a third of the company's storage needs, IBM's Shark units hold more than 36 percent, Big Blue's FastT boxes hold about 18 percent and Xserve RAID systems hold less than 12 percent. By the end of the fiscal year, however, Apple hopes to have more than half of its data on Xserve RAIDs, with the Shark systems holding 30 percent and the FastT and EMC boxes each holding less than 10 percent of the company's data.
Apple also runs much of its own hardware to power its iTunes Music Store and other Internet services. About 75 percent of the gear that powers Apple's online efforts is made up of Apple's Xserve and Xserve RAID products, Rally said following his presentation. "We do have a few Sun boxes mixed in there as well," he said.
One of the big advantages of using so many Macs is you don't have to spend as much on security, Rally maintained, noting that there are no major viruses that affect Mac OS X.
He also made the case that less administration is needed for Macs, pointing out that the company has just 27 IT workers on its help desk. That's one help desk person for each 433 employees, about half to a quarter of what research firm Gartner estimates are needed by typical corporations.
Last modified: January 8, 2004, 3:29 PM PST
By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Reporter's notebook SAN FRANCISCO--Normally reluctant to discuss even what is served in the company cafeteria, secretive Apple Computer on Thursday offered a sneak peak into its data center.
Trying to make the case that its products belong in large companies, Apple showed how it runs its own business using a great deal of Apple gear.
The disclosures, offered by Apple senior IT director Dean Rally, came as part of a discussion on Apple's role in the enterprise during the "Mac IT" portion of this year's Macworld Expo.
Rally said Xserve is the mainstay of Apple's corporate data center, with the rack-mounted server being used to deliver Web pages, files and applications, as well as for authentication and security.
The company does use a smattering of Sun Microsystems servers to power, among other things, its e-mail systems. Apple also has some servers running IBM's AIX operating system.
As for software, the company does use Microsoft Office for the Mac, but uses its own products for most desktop tasks, including e-mail, instant messaging and Web browsing. As for enterprise applications, Apple is a longtime SAP customer, uses PeopleSoft 8 for customer relationship management and runs software from i2 for forecasting.
To store its data, Apple uses its own Xserve RAID boxes, along with storage from IBM and EMC. The company was once a large EMC customer, but it shifted more to IBM in recent years and is planning to migrate much of the work to Xserve RAID boxes in the coming year.
EMC products handle about a third of the company's storage needs, IBM's Shark units hold more than 36 percent, Big Blue's FastT boxes hold about 18 percent and Xserve RAID systems hold less than 12 percent. By the end of the fiscal year, however, Apple hopes to have more than half of its data on Xserve RAIDs, with the Shark systems holding 30 percent and the FastT and EMC boxes each holding less than 10 percent of the company's data.
Apple also runs much of its own hardware to power its iTunes Music Store and other Internet services. About 75 percent of the gear that powers Apple's online efforts is made up of Apple's Xserve and Xserve RAID products, Rally said following his presentation. "We do have a few Sun boxes mixed in there as well," he said.
One of the big advantages of using so many Macs is you don't have to spend as much on security, Rally maintained, noting that there are no major viruses that affect Mac OS X.
He also made the case that less administration is needed for Macs, pointing out that the company has just 27 IT workers on its help desk. That's one help desk person for each 433 employees, about half to a quarter of what research firm Gartner estimates are needed by typical corporations.
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