SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Cisco Systems, the worldis largest networking equipment manufacturer, chose Appleis Mac OS X, Xserve, Xserve RAID, and Xsan networking software for an e-mail archival system.

Digital Strata, an Agile-IT development firm in the Enterprise space, implemented the system for Cisco Xsan is a DIY (Do It Yourself) grid software tool for putting together Mac OS X-based networks using Xserve and Xserve RAID. The system also used Ciscois MDS 900 Series SAN Switches.

"We are harnessing Apple storage systems in best-of-breed solutions that offer twice the capacity at half the price compared with other enterprise storage vendors," said Dan Fischler, President of Digital Strata, in a statement. "By combining Appleis latest enterprise software and hardware systems with our Agile-IT services, we can deliver the adaptive, extensible and flexible solutions that enable our customers get the most from their IT budgets."

The system was developed using early-release versions of Xsan, as well as early-release versions of Appleis most recent Xserve and Xserve RAID versions. It marks one of the first such Enterprise scores for Apple using Mac OS X.

In December, Oracle chose Xserve RAID to be the storage component for a new networking implementation, but Ciscois network uses Mac OS X, Xserve, and Xsan, too.

Apple has been quietly building its Enterprise tools and products for the last several years. Cisco has enormous clout in the networking market, giving Apple a fairly significant feather in its cap.