Apple indicates final Xserve orders won't ship for two more months
With just days to go before Apple officially pulls the plug on its Xserve line of rack-mount servers, the company has indicated that all orders for the systems taken today and through Monday won't ship for at least another two months.
Apple updated its online store early Thursday by noting that orders for both the "Quad-Core" and "8-Core" will ship in "April." No explanation was provided for the delay, which comes just four days before the company will stop accepting orders for the servers on January 31st.
Back in November, the Cupertino-based company announced the discontinuation of the Xserve on its website, posting an "Xserve Transition Guide" [PDF] stating that it would not be developing a future version of Xserve.
Instead, Apple said customers looking for a Mac-based server option could choose between the Mac Pro with Snow Leopard Server, or the Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server. It said both systems will remain available for customers looking to upgrade, replace or supplement existing Xserve systems.
That same guide noted that the 12-core Mac Pro with Snow Leopard Server already meets or exceeds the performance of the baseline Xserve hardware. Meanwhile, it said that while the Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server is significantly outperformed by Xserve, it has been Apple's most popular server system since its introduction in the fall of 2009.
While Apple provided no formal explanation for the discontinuation of its flagship server line, a purported email reply from chief executive Steve Jobs reportedly claimed that "hardly anyone was buying" the 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, the company said.
For more on why Apple axed Xserve, and how it can reenter the server market, see AppleInsider's special report.
Apple updated its online store early Thursday by noting that orders for both the "Quad-Core" and "8-Core" will ship in "April." No explanation was provided for the delay, which comes just four days before the company will stop accepting orders for the servers on January 31st.
Back in November, the Cupertino-based company announced the discontinuation of the Xserve on its website, posting an "Xserve Transition Guide" [PDF] stating that it would not be developing a future version of Xserve.
Instead, Apple said customers looking for a Mac-based server option could choose between the Mac Pro with Snow Leopard Server, or the Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server. It said both systems will remain available for customers looking to upgrade, replace or supplement existing Xserve systems.
That same guide noted that the 12-core Mac Pro with Snow Leopard Server already meets or exceeds the performance of the baseline Xserve hardware. Meanwhile, it said that while the Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server is significantly outperformed by Xserve, it has been Apple's most popular server system since its introduction in the fall of 2009.
While Apple provided no formal explanation for the discontinuation of its flagship server line, a purported email reply from chief executive Steve Jobs reportedly claimed that "hardly anyone was buying" the 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, the company said.
For more on why Apple axed Xserve, and how it can reenter the server market, see AppleInsider's special report.
Comments
However the Mac lineup is quite simple now, I see them as having 3 categories.
Mainstream: iMac, Macbook Pro
Specialized: Mac Pro (for number crunching), Macbook Air (for portability)
Budget: Macbook, Mac mini
Maybe hardly anyone was buying at that time because they hadn't been updated in over a year and were overpriced?
To suggest that a Mac Pro or mac mini is a suitable replacement in a production server environment again shows that Apple never understood that market. In the environments I've worked, admins would be walked out for suggesting something so silly!
We await to see what happens, but Sandy Bridge updates will be rolling out. With or without XServe, the other ranges should see updates over the year.
Apple will release a super high performance line of Xserves with the lightpeak tech at it's core and super fast solid state drives.
Or what if Apple takes that same technology and adds a custom next generation Apple ARM CPU / CPU's. Think about how green that product would be. It the energy consumption would be a fraction of what today's server market uses.
Just a couple of thoughts
What if Apple discontinued the Xserve line only to replace it with a new revolutionary product. Something that will blow the roof off the server market.
Apple will release a super high performance line of Xserves with the lightpeak tech at it's core and super fast solid state drives.
Or what if Apple takes that same technology and adds a custom next generation Apple ARM CPU / CPU's. Think about how green that product would be. It the energy consumption would be a fraction of what today's server market uses.
Just a couple of thoughts
Not gonna' happen. They wouldn't be telling people that XServe is being discontinued and to "go use something else", have limited and almost useless Mac solutions to only come back to the server market.
I think the discontinuation of XServe demonstrates the disadvantages of Apple's great success in the consumer marketplace. From a financial standpoint, I don't blame them: if you can sell 20 million phones or iPads, why do you care about selling tens of thousands of servers? But Apple used to care about the high end of the market and those servers had some great features, although I will admit that they weren't highly adopted.
This must mean that Apple is not going to be using Macs in the North Carolina server farm. I think that's an embarrassment. What are they going to use? Dell? HP? "Yeah, we make the best computers, but we're not going to use them because either they're not powerful enough or they're hard to administer."
If Apple doesn't want to pay a lot of attention to the Mac line, perhaps they should spin it off into a separate company.
This must mean that Apple is not going to be using Macs in the North Carolina server farm. I think that's an embarrassment. What are they going to use? Dell? HP? "
More likely Oracle/Sun (remember SJ's bff is Larry E.)
This whole server flap could be solved pretty easily if Apple licensed OSX Server to a company like Oracle or HP (or allowed it to run as a VM under another server OS). They could charge a price high enough to ensure that the licensee would be unable to sell a computer that can compete with Apple's desktop/laptops.
Although disappointed with this decision, I would like to see Apple team with Oracle and use the established and highly regarded Sun hardware in the enterprise market. Oracle is well positioned in the enterprise and with the addition of Sun they have added not only industrial strength hardware to their offerings but a substantial support network as well.
I warrants a Steve Larry discussion.
If Apple doesn't want to pay a lot of attention to the Mac line, perhaps they should spin it off into a separate company.
I have been thinking the same thing for some time now.
If Apple doesn't want to pay a lot of attention to the Mac line, perhaps they should spin it off into a separate company.
I have been thinking the same thing for some time now.
That's insane, and you know it. What you think a Mac should be is totally different from what Apple thinks, which is selling 3 to 4 million a quarter, the best ever in their history.
If the Mac were spun off to a different company it could wither, IMHO. iPad and iPhone is keeping it ticking.
It's just that now Mac is really for everyday Joe and Jane. No more the realm of enterprise and creative pros. It is sad, but inevitable. Apple could put all its resources in pushing the Mac and fighting the PC wars, but iOS is where all the momentum is now. Some people that have been using iOS come to a Mac thinking it's just as easy but they are floored by it. Yes, people are getting that "stupid" and it is in part to iOS itself!
Not gonna' happen... If Apple doesn't want to pay a lot of attention to the Mac line, perhaps they should spin it off into a separate company.
Not gonna' happen... Mac = Mac OS X = iOS
Not gonna' happen. They wouldn't be telling people that XServe is being discontinued and to "go use something else", have limited and almost useless Mac solutions to only come back to the server market.
I think the discontinuation of XServe demonstrates the disadvantages of Apple's great success in the consumer marketplace. From a financial standpoint, I don't blame them: if you can sell 20 million phones or iPads, why do you care about selling tens of thousands of servers? But Apple used to care about the high end of the market and those servers had some great features, although I will admit that they weren't highly adopted.
This must mean that Apple is not going to be using Macs in the North Carolina server farm. I think that's an embarrassment. What are they going to use? Dell? HP? "Yeah, we make the best computers, but we're not going to use them because either they're not powerful enough or they're hard to administer."
If Apple doesn't want to pay a lot of attention to the Mac line, perhaps they should spin it off into a separate company.
Clearly they never made the best servers for anything. No blades, no other form factors, and wow, a one year warranty? Dell has as standard 3 years with Pro support and on site in 4hrs 24x7. Like you said, Apple excels at the consumer side, and I wouldn't expect them to be able to excel at both. Same goes for Dell; they had top notch support and reliability before they focused on the consumer market.
Even if Apple still sold the Xserve, it would probably be cheaper to use someone else's servers.
If the Mac were spun off to a different company it could wither, IMHO. iPad and iPhone is keeping it ticking.
It's just that now Mac is really for everyday Joe and Jane. No more the realm of enterprise and creative pros.
That's my point. Apple's consumer-driven product road map leaves very little room for high-end niche products. I see the demise of the MacPro on the horizon. With that in mind, would it be so terrible if Apple licensed -say- Oracle to cater to the OSX pro market?
"Hardly anyone was buying" turns into a 2+ month back order??
Maybe hardly anyone was buying at that time because they hadn't been updated in over a year and were overpriced?
To suggest that a Mac Pro or mac mini is a suitable replacement in a production server environment again shows that Apple never understood that market. In the environments I've worked, admins would be walked out for suggesting something so silly!
I'd have to guess it really hasn't been a profitable line of business for them. My guess, again, is that many of their customers could probably do quite well with a Mac Pro or Mac Mini running OS X Server. Obviously, some number can't, but, of that category of customer, how many are using OS X Server and not running Linux or, in Windows shops, Windows Server? (If Linux weren't available running on basic "PC" architecture, it might have been a different game for Xserve.)
I think they took a look at the rack mounted server market potential and decided it jut wasn't worth it for the returns. It's not really reasonable to expect them to be everywhere when "everywhere" just isn't giving much return on the investment. It's unfortunate for those who do want to run OS X Server and do need an Xserve class server, but this is just the sort of business decision that companies have to make all the time.
... I see the demise of the MacPro on the horizon. ...
I don't see that happening. I expect that the demand for Mac Pros is orders of magnitude greater than for Xserves.
What if Apple discontinued the Xserve line only to replace it with a new revolutionary product. Something that will blow the roof off the server market.
Apple will release a super high performance line of Xserves with the lightpeak tech at it's core and super fast solid state drives.
Or what if Apple takes that same technology and adds a custom next generation Apple ARM CPU / CPU's. Think about how green that product would be. It the energy consumption would be a fraction of what today's server market uses.
Just a couple of thoughts
The 1u server market is all but dead due to Vmware. With HP and Dell you can even get killer 1u servers that will run Vmware very well. Only reason to buy dedicated servers these days is for SQL server or oracle. And people are even starting to put database servers on Vmware for dr reasons
Where I work we just bought 4 new HP servers that will blow away anything apple has. And a lot cheaper.
Ssd's are a waste in servers except in small niches. The roi is not there.
This must mean that Apple is not going to be using Macs in the North Carolina server farm. I think that's an embarrassment. What are they going to use? Dell? HP? "Yeah, we make the best computers, but we're not going to use them because either they're not powerful enough or they're hard to administer."
Does any major Internet company buy servers from HP or Dell? I'm pretty sure that the big boys like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft custom build their own servers. I truely doubt Apple would buy servers from someone else. Since they are discontinuing the X-Serve I wouldn't be surprised if they are moving away from blade servers. I'll choose to speculate that they move on to their own custom built super computers (don't have any good reason to believe this, but it would be the coolest solution).