BusinessWeek's Haddad Wonders If Xserve Can Make It In Business

by , 10:00 AM EDT, May 31st, 2002

Business Week's Charles Haddad has a lot to say about Apple's push into corporate server rooms via its new Xserve offering. In his latest 'Byte of the Apple' column titled "Apple Plunges Back into Servers," Mr. Haddad likes Xserve, saying:

Not only is the Xserve powerful, it's also priced to move, as they say in retail. Starting at $3,000, the line features Apple's powerful G4 processors and comes with up to 480 gigabytes of storage. As one information technology manager gushed to me, "I can buy two of these babies for what it would have cost for one comparable IBM server." Making the Xserve sweeter yet, Apple is also offering an unlimited license of OS X server software, priced at $1,000 if bought separately.

Mr. Haddad believes, however, that IT managers won't be quick to embrace Apple's new server. From the article:

...Certainly many Mac renegades in PC-dominated IT departments are salivating at the prospect of a strong Apple server product to pitch to their bosses. But I'm afraid that, no matter how good the Xserve, it will be an uphill sell in most businesses.

For one thing, Apple has been out of the server business for five years. And before that, it went in and out of the market, which eroded confidence in the company's ability -- and staying power.

Today, there's little institutional support for Apple. Most IT managers have been trained on Windows machines. And Microsoft has done a good job of persuading IT managers that the Mac OS isn't serious business. Ironically, OS X's stunning interface only reinforces that impression. To IT managers, OS X's eye candy consumes precious processing power that could be better used speeding the network as a whole.

Mr. Haddad makes some interesting observations and his article is, as always, well worth a read.

The Mac Observer Spin:

Not every IT manager will want an Xserve in his server stable, but we think Xserve offers some compelling advantages that will entice more than a few server buyers to take a serious look. Apple is testing the waters, but it built Xserve using information from the very people it hopes will buy the system. There is also a very strong undercurrent of IT activity involving OS X due to OS X's ability to play nice with other computers and legacy UNIX systems. A server that does the same thing and is cheap to boot and fills in a convenient niche may be too hard to pass up, and that is what Apple is hoping for. Once you get a foot in the door, as Microsoft has proven time and again, you may as well be through the door.

Mr. Haddad is right, it won't be an easy push, but we think the time is ripe for a new face in the IT server arena. It will all depend on what Apple can ultimately deliver.

Apple Plunges Back into Servers