ECONOMICS

Apple today announced it has begun shipping its Xserve(R) G5, the most powerful Xserve yet, to customers. With unparalleled performance and manageability, Xserve G5 delivers over 30 gigaflops of processing power per system-about 60 percent more than the PowerPC G4-based Xserve-in a 1U rack-mount enclosure. "Xserve G5 is a big hit with customers who want a powerful 1U rack-mount server for thousands of dollars less than alternatives from Dell, IBM and Sun," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With dual G5 processing power, massive storage, incredible I/O performance and Apple's Mac OS X Server software included, Xserve G5 is affordable, easy to manage and easy to cluster." "We chose a 64-node Xserve G5 cluster over an AMD-based cluster running Linux," said Jonathan Cohen, director of the Center for the Study of Brain, Mind and Behavior at Princeton University. "Apple is known not only for the ease of use, support and innovative engineering of its products, but also for the creative spirit that it is now bringing directly to bear on the needs of high-end scientific computing. The combination of Apple's flair for innovation and standards-based open source software make Xserve G5 an easy and exciting choice." Apple has also introduced the Apple Workgroup Cluster for Bioinformatics, a turnkey, high-performance computing cluster that allows any scientist to configure, operate and maintain the system. The workgroup cluster solution offers outstanding price-performance with unrivaled ease of setup and includes iNquiry, a 3rd-party bioinformatics package from The BioTeam that provides 200 ready-to-use bioinformatics applications optimized for Apple's industry-leading Xserve G5. Installation and maintenance have also been greatly simplified so little or no IT support is required. Apple offers a choice of world-class services and support programs for Xserve including 4-hour on-site response, 24x7 technical support, AppleCare Service Parts Kits and the AppleCare Professional SupportLine and Tools program. Pricing & Availability Single processor 2.0 GHz Xserve G5 servers are available immediately through the Apple Store(R) (www.apple.com) and Apple Authorized Resellers. The dual processor 2.0 GHz and cluster-optimized dual 2.0 GHz Xserve G5 servers will be available in April through the Apple Store (www.apple.com) and Apple Authorized Resellers. Xserve G5 comes in three standard configurations or can be fully customized to meet specific customer requirements. The three standard Xserve G5 configurations include: -- a single 2.0 GHz PowerPC G5 processor with 512MB of PC3200 ECC RAM, a single 80GB Apple Drive Module with expandability for up to 750GB, dual Gigabit Ethernet on-board, FireWire(R) 800 and USB 2.0, and an unlimited client license of Mac(R) OS X Server for a suggested retail price of $2,999 (US); -- dual 2.0 GHz PowerPC G5 processors with 1GB of PC3200 ECC RAM, a single 80GB Apple Drive Module with expandability for up to 750GB, dual Gigabit Ethernet on-board, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0, and an unlimited client license of Mac OS X Server for a suggested retail price of $3,999 (US); and -- cluster-optimized dual 2.0 GHz PowerPC G5 processors with 512MB of PC3200 ECC RAM, a single 80GB Apple Drive Module, dual Gigabit Ethernet on-board, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0, and a 10-client license of Mac OS X Server for a suggested retail price that starts at $2,999 (US) per cluster node.