Op news.com doet C|net verslag van de rondleiding in Apple’s data center die ze kregen van Apple senior IT director Dean Rally. Apple’s doel van deze openheid was te laten zien dat de Xserve en Mac OS X server uitstekend geschikt zijn voor zelfs de zwaarste automatiseringstaken.

Apple maakt van oudsher gebruik van systemen van Sun (Solaris) en IBM (AIX). Sinds de introductie van de OS X server en de Xserve worden echter steeds meer taken overgezet naar Apple’s eigen serveroplossingen. Die worden inmiddels gebruikt voor onder andere webserving, fileserving en user-authentication. Daarbij wordt vooral intensief gebruik gemaakt van de Xserve RAID.

Citaat: “Normally reluctant to discuss even what is served in the company cafeteria, secretive Apple Computer on Thursday offered a sneak peek into its data center. Trying to make the case that its products belong in large companies, Apple showed how it runs its own business using a great deal of Apple gear.” Apple also runs much of its own hardware to power its iTunes Music Store and other Internet services. About 75 percent of the gear that powers Apple’s online efforts is made up of Apple’s Xserve and Xserve RAID products, Rally said following his presentation. “We do have a few Sun boxes mixed in there as well,” he said. C|Net news.com: Apple drinks its own juice