Apple Adds 7TB Xserve RAID & 1.5TB Dual 2.3GHz Xserve

Apple Computer announced Tuesday updates to its Xserve RAID rack mount storage systems, boosting the 3U unit to offer up to 7 terabytes of storage. At US$12,999, that 7TB would cost $1.86 per gigabyte, a very aggressive price point for the storage industry. Apple also announced an update to its 1U Xserve rack mount server with a new three drive bay, dual 2.3GHz G5 processor model that can hold up to 1.5TB of hot-plug storage.

"Apple has shipped an impressive 76 petabytes of Xserve RAID storage in the last two years," said Philip Schiller, Appleis senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, in a statement. "We are now offering our users more capacity at an even lower price per gigabyte."

The Xserve RAID units have 14 independent 500GB Ultra ATA drive channels with dual independent RAID controllers, each with a 512 megabyte cache. Apple said that this provides for sustained throughput of over 385MBps, "high enough to support the most demanding media production environments using protected RAID level 5."

The new Xserve model can deliver up to 35 gigaflops of processing power, and utilize a 1.15GHz frontside bus, which Apple said is the fastest front side bus on a 1U system.

Apple offers 4-hour on-site response, 24x7 technical support, AppleCare Service Parts Kits and the AppleCare Professional SupportLine and Tools program for Xserve RAID

Appleis current Xserve RAID models are configured as follows:

  • Xserve RAID with a suggested retail price of $5,999 (US) includes:
  • 1TB RAID 0 total available storage;
  • dual independent RAID controllers with 512MB cache per controller;
  • dual 2GB Fibre Channel SFP ports with 200MBps throughput per channel;
  • four 250GB ATA Apple Drive Modules; and
  • 8MB on-drive cache.

Xserve RAID with a suggested retail price of $8,499 (US) includes:

  • 3.5TB RAID 0 total available storage;
  • dual independent RAID controllers with 512MB cache per controller;
  • dual 2GB Fibre Channel SFP ports with 200MBps throughput per channel;
  • seven 500GB ATA Apple Drive Modules; and
  • 8MB on-drive cache.

Xserve RAID with a suggested retail price of $12,999 (US) includes:

  • 7TB RAID 0 total available storage;
  • dual independent RAID controllers with 512MB cache per controller;
  • dual 2GB Fibre Channel SFP ports with 200MBps throughput per channel;
  • fourteen 500GB ATA Apple Drive Modules; and
  • 8MB on-drive cache.

All of the new Xserve products are available today through the Apple Store.