At the high end, the Xserve is available with up to two 2.93GHz Intel Xeon processors and low-power solid state drive (SSD) and up to 3TB of internal storage. The XServe starts at $2,999, Xserve and comes pre-installed with an unlimited client license of Mac OS X Server version 10.5 Leopard.

Every Xserve ships with an unlimited client edition of Mac OS X Leopard Server, offering support for Mac, Linux and Windows clients without the added cost of client-access licenses.

"The Xserve is the best workgroup server for our education, business and creative customers," said David Moody, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Mac Product Marketing. "With up to twice the performance, better power efficiency and an innovative SSD drive option, this is the best Xserve we've ever made."

Key features of the new XServe:

• Next-generation server architecture
• Intel Xeon processors up to 2.93 GHz that includes integrated memory controller with three channels of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC memory
• Two x16 PCI Express 2.0 slots
• Up to 12 DIMM slots
• High-efficiency power supplies
• Intelligent thermal management
• 128GB SSD boot-drive option
• Three 3.5 inch drive bays support both 7200 rpm SATA and 15,000 rpm SAS drives
• Optional Xserve RAID Card
• Built-in NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics card with 256MB of GDDR3 memory
• Up to 3TB of storage in three drive bays

Pricing & Availability
The new Xserve line is available now via the Apple Store (www.apple.com) and from Apple Authorized Resellers.

The standard configuration Xserve is priced at $2,999 (US) and includes:

• single 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Xeon 5500 series processor with 8MB of fully shared L3 cache;
• 3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC RAM;
• single 160GB 7200 rpm SATA Apple Drive Module
• dual Gigabit Ethernet on-board
• two PCI Express 2.0 x16 expansion slots
• Bonjour-enabled Lights-Out Management processor and Server Monitor Software
• internal graphics with Mini DisplayPort output
• two FireWire 800 and three USB 2.0 ports
• an unlimited client license for Mac OS X Server version 10.5 Leopard

Build-to-order options and accessories for Xserve include: dual 2.26 GHz, 2.66 GHz or 2.93 GHz Intel Xeon processors; 160GB and 1TB 7200 rpm SATA Apple Drive Modules; 450GB 15,000 rpm SAS drives (third party option); internal Xserve RAID card; Gigabit Ethernet, 4Gb Fibre Channel cards and a 750W redundant power supply.