One of the features prominently touted by Apple in the new XSan 2 is its support for 3rd party storage solutions. It looks like there is a very good reason for that: Apple is no longer making the Xserve RAID. That's right, if you head on over to the XServe Raid's former home on Apple.com you're greeted with some information about the Promise VTrak E-Class RAID Subsystem, and a link to find out more on Promise's website.
It would seem that Apple wasn't making enough money in the fast paced Enterprise storage market and is bowing out. This makes lots of sense to me, since (for the most part) storage is a commodity market, and that is something Apple has never been interested in. Now the company can focus on making the software that one uses to power and manage your SAN (i.e. XSan 2) the best in the market (and judging from the screenshots it looks a lot better than most SAN software I've used).
Thanks, Tim.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-19-2008 @ 10:30AM
Brady Williams said...
NOO APPLE ISNT MAKING ALL THERE OWN HARDWARE ANYMORE THERE BECOMING MICROSOFT NOOO
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2-19-2008 @ 12:45PM
Zak said...
OH MY GOD. Apple is not making THEIR own hardware. not THERE. THERE is a place, like "look over THERE".
THEY'RE becoming Microsoft. NOT THERE. They're is short for "they are". That's why there's an apostrophe in the middle of it. Holy crap people, it's not that hard!
2-19-2008 @ 2:25PM
Rollins said...
I don't think he was being serious, Zak. The grammatical errors were probably intentional.
2-19-2008 @ 3:59PM
jasonwrites said...
Zak, while you're at the nitpicking, please move your period INSIDE your quotation marks. That's where it belongs, after all. It's not that hard.
2-19-2008 @ 4:22PM
brian said...
Hey Zak, you forgot the "c" in your name.
2-19-2008 @ 4:44PM
brian said...
Jason--that's debatable.
http://www.google.com/search?q=period+%22quotation+marks%22+inside+outside
One page of many: "Traditionally, English had it outside of the quotation marks. However, American English allows for it to be put inside. Either way is usually right, but you should at least be consistent. Also check with your publisher/teacher/editor/etc to see if they prefer one method over the other."
2-19-2008 @ 5:45PM
jasonwrites said...
Brian - It's not really that debatable. You may find a handful of references to the old outside method, but in overwhelming majority in America is to place periods on the inside. The same Google search you referenced proves this point (most notably the Blue Book of Grammar). I make my living as a writer and have yet to find anyone placing the period on the outside as a matter of preference.
2-19-2008 @ 7:38PM
Zak said...
Rollins: I hope it was intentional, but it probably wasn't.
jasonwrites: Interesting that you chose to nitpick my post rather than agree with it. Does that mean you agree with the OP's usage of THERE? Oh, and being a writer doesn't mean you're a spelling or grammar expert. If it did, you wouldn't need proofreaders or editors.
brian: You'll have to take that up with my parents.
2-19-2008 @ 10:34AM
larry said...
so i'm waiting for a one of the last raids, should arrive in friday :)
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2-19-2008 @ 10:49AM
Sam W said...
Just priced an X-RAID out on the 5th and started the PO process... going to start that again lol oh well... The new Promise VTrak systems are far faster it seems then the old X-RAIDs. Anyone have any comments on the Promise solution?
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2-19-2008 @ 11:35AM
Jack Beckman said...
We have some Promise RAID here, and it works well, it's inexpensive, and they are very good to work with if you have questions. We actually looked at XServe RAID in the past but the Promise was faster and cheaper.
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2-19-2008 @ 12:51PM
hmurchison said...
I don't mind the support for Promise equipment but sheesh man...if Apple can't sell anything other than computers and iPods those lofty 250 bucks a share prognostications sound like pipe dreams. As soon as iPod/iPhone sales are soft Apple's stock tanks. Shudder.
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2-19-2008 @ 1:41PM
Scott said...
Well, if you look at the bottom of http://www.apple.com/xsan/resources/
you will still see the XSERVE under the "server" heading..Somebody is getting lazy over in cupertino!!
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2-19-2008 @ 1:43PM
Scott said...
OOPS. looks like i got a little ahead of myself. The xserve is there but not the raid.... sorry
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2-19-2008 @ 1:52PM
Mike said...
If Apple is going to promote a raid array from another company they could have at least sold them their chassis design so that I don't have to put that ugly thing in my racks of Apple gear. I'm not all about aesthetics, but come on you can't deny Xserve and Xserve Raids looks awesome. Let the run on the pretty stuff begin!!
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2-19-2008 @ 5:17PM
Just Cause said...
I think this is a result of the OEM supplier being acquired, but I'm just guessing :-)
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2-19-2008 @ 6:50PM
NutMac said...
Darn it. Where the heck am I going to get stylish and expensive RAID rack that will be hidden a data center?
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2-19-2008 @ 11:18PM
Not an Asshat said...
Jeez, no wonder the professional Mac admins out there aren't reading TUAW anymore with commentary like this. Do any of you people have at least the slightest idea about SANs, Xsan, or how it compares to the rest of the market?
Apple released a single minor update to their Xserve RAID in four years; the last model that someone said he'd ordered was still using PATA (IDE/ATA) HDs. They didn't even make the jump to SATA. I'm certain that Apple's R&D group had some next-generation Xserve RAIDs in the works but in the end the bean-counters and management decided that it's better to partner with a 3rd-party to release RAID chassis for use with their Xsan product. The fact of the matter is that Apple's Xserve RAID just wasn't competing well in the SAN market. Rorke's Galaxy chassis were outperforming the Apple Xserve RAIDs, as were, I'm sure, several other vendors.
Apple made the smart move to get out rather than continue to try to sell a product that wasn't performing well. Note that Apple's still focusing on Xsan 2.0 and building kick-ass metadata controllers in the form of Xserves. I'm not criticizing Apple; just pointing out some sound business judgement. With other vendors aggressively targeting this Enterprise storage space (Isilon, Rorke, EMC, HP, Equallogic (Dell), just to name a few), it's no wonder Apple was finding it hard to compete.
But hey, let's all focus on sniping comments about proper grammar instead of discussing the actual issues.
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2-20-2008 @ 7:28AM
James Grinter said...
Is Xsan 2 still based upon the Quantum (formerly ADIC) StorNext clustered filesystem product? They released v3.0 of that last year.
2-20-2008 @ 9:10AM
Adam G said...
The SATA version of the Xraid was demoed to some in Jan 07, but never made it to market. It would not surprise me that the xraid was so slow selling that the ones you might have recently purchased were manufactured a year ago.
I hear the xserve is about to go the way of the xraid. Apple does not make much money with the enterprise hardware. Like many have said, Apple is always too far behind the enterprise curve. I see in the next 6-12 months that Apple partners with a hardware manufacturer to make/sell non-Apple servers enabled to run OSX server. Then bye-bye Xserve. Any thoughts?
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