Apple Debuts RAID Server, Upgrades Xserve LineApple Debuts RAID Server, Upgrades Xserve Line

Apple Computer was late to the server market, so it's trying to make up for lost time. On Monday, it introduced its first RAID system, the Xserve RAID, and upgraded two other server products in its Xserve line.

Xserve RAID is a 3U rack-storage system with total storage capacity of 2.5 terabytes that boasts speeds of up to 400 Mbps. Prices start at $6,000 for an entry-level unit with dual 2-Gbyte Fibre Channel ports and 720 Gbytes of storage.

Apple also upgraded its Xserve 1U rack servers to dual 1.33-GHz PowerPC G4 processors (up from 1-GHz G4s) and dropped the price of both the single- and dual-processor models by $200. A dual-processor Xserve with 512 Mbytes of double-data-rate RAM, dual Gigabit Ethernet, and a 60-Gbyte ATA drive is now priced at $3,800, down from $4,000.