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Intel inside Apple's Xserve RAID storage system

updated 03:45 am EST, Fri March 4, 2005

Apple uses Intel chip

Apple is using an Intel chip inside one of its currently shipping products. CNET News.com reports that Intel at its developer conference is , an enterprise storage system that offers up to 5.6 terabytes of storage in a 5.25-inch-high rack-mounted system: " Intel included one of the rack-mounted storage systems in a display at this week's Intel Developer Forum here. The device sat in a rack, surrounded by products from more familiar Intel customers such as IBM and Dell. According to Intel marketing materials, the Xserve RAID uses Intel's IOP 331 chip, a derivative of the XScale processor. The IOP chip, which is used in many storage systems, is designed to speed the task of shuttling data in and out of a computer system."

by MacNN Staff

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Eriamjh
Addicted to MacNN

Joined: Oct 2001

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03/04, 05:43am | report spam | close Reply |
So?

And?

koolkid1976
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Joined: May 2003

0

03/04, 06:07am | report spam | close Reply |
re: so?

dang it! you took the words out of my mouth. It's not as if Apple make processors, or is a direct competitor with Intel. It would be more of a story if they said the storage system ran an embeded version of Windows CE.

edinburghmac
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Joined: Jul 2004

0

03/04, 06:26am | report spam | close Reply |
re: so?

Why is this a story - it's not as if it's the first time an Apple product has used an Intel chip, I'm sure the original AirPort has a 486 in it and there are probably plenty of other Apple products that have used them in the past.

macmad
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Dec 2000

0

03/04, 06:48am | report spam | close Reply |
Exposure

Intel "showing off Apple's Xserve RAID" at least brings endorsed product exposure, which is surely a good thing for Apple.

gudin
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Joined: May 2000

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03/04, 07:03am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Exposure

I agree completely. No one that buys a RAID system is going to not buy an XServe RAID as a result of this. On the contrary, most of the people involved will have yet one more reason to take these products seriously. First, Apple (finally) officially supporting Windows, then Intel using the XServe RAID to help them market their technologies.

This is great for Apple.

paulc
Junior Member

Joined: Aug 2000

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03/04, 08:25am | report spam | close Reply |
besides...

we can now boast of having "intel inside!"

leamanc
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Joined: Oct 2003

0

03/04, 08:32am | report spam | close Reply |
Original AirPort had...

...an AMD chip, not an Intel one, but close enough.

mbryda
Senior User

Joined: Mar 2002

0

03/04, 08:51am | report spam | close Reply |
Ewwww

When I was doing the PC thing I always avoided Intel Inside. AMD always provided better performance and reliability at a lower cost....

Sucks that Apple is using Intel chips.

exa
Grizzled Veteran

Joined: Mar 2000

0

03/04, 08:55am | report spam | close Reply |
g4

My PM G4, MDD has an intel controller inside...

Rosyna
Forum Regular

Joined: Aug 2001

0

03/04, 09:04am | report spam | close Reply |
And?

Many macs have both Intel and AMD chips inside them. Intel, AMD make things other than x86 processors, no da?

madgunde
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Joined: Nov 2002

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03/04, 09:09am | report spam | close Reply |
Good!

Glad to see Apple is again making smart business choices and not letting technological pride get in the way of being successful. If having an Intel chip inside it makes it better, faster or cheaper or makes it easier for CIO's to choose Apple's product over Dell's or anyone else's, then it's a good thing. Go Apple!

testudo
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03/04, 09:34am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: exposure

I agree completely. No one that buys a RAID system is going to not buy an XServe RAID as a result of this. On the contrary, most of the people involved will have yet one more reason to take these products seriously. First, Apple (finally) officially supporting Windows, then Intel using the XServe RAID to help them market their technologies.

Please, how does having an Intel controller inside somehow make this a more purchasable product? You say its not going to keep anyone from buying it (which I'm assuming you mean no one's going to say "Check it out! Its using an Intel controller chip! I'm not buying this POS!"), but you think someone's going to say "Hey, check it out! I thought the XServe RAID was a toy, being made by apple and all. But now that I see one of its many controller chips is made by Intel, I realize this is a serious product. I'm buying two!" That's as lame an argument as anything.

The original Exposure poster had the only decent point, in that Intel is reportedly mentioning it, which means people who never would've heard of it might see a blurb and look into it.

BTW, my Mac has a couple of USB ports in it, which is Intel technology, as has every mac since, what, 1998 or something. This whole "Intel Inside" thing isn't exactly new or meaningful in any way.

amper
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Joined: Nov 2003

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03/04, 10:34am | report spam | close Reply |
Intel chip? Or Apple?

Yes, well, did you forget the fact that the XScale chips were based off of the ARM processors? ARM was a joint venture between Acorn, Apple, and VLSI. The ARM chips made their way to Intel via a license to DEC, which was purchased by Intel as part of the fallout of the Compaq-DEC merger.

So you could as easily say that the chip has it's origins at Apple. You may remember the ARM processors in such devices as the Newtom MessagePads...

iFrankie
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03/04, 01:17pm | report spam | close Reply |
CNET News.Com

Did everyone fail to notice this is from CNET News.com?

They are famous for making stories about Apple out of nothing.

gudin
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03/04, 04:23pm | report spam | close Reply |
re: testudo

Ummm.... What's your point? Even if only one person buys one because they think using Intel puts it in the big leagues, or becauseIntel actually showed it/demoed it, etc as an example of good uses of their tech (and thus gives it some more mindshare), it's good for apple.

What part of my point did you miss? (other than the "I agree with the original poster" part...)

And yes, the fact that the original iMac was the first production computer that relied on Intel's USB technology (as opposed to a largely irrelevant and unused after thought as it was on some PCs at the time) gave it credibility . . . .if it used some other technology that was apple only, instead of USB, it would have been somewhat less credible.

Makosuke
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03/04, 05:13pm | report spam | close Reply |
So.... something

I almost agree completely with the original poster that this is a total "So" story, except for the fact that Intel is specifically showing it off at a developer conference. With Intel having the corporate image it does, that is good advertising for the Xserve. A very small amount of good advertising, admittedly, but something is always better than nothing.

Plus, Intel apparently thought the Xserve was for some reason worthy of using as a showcase piece, so that's an additional positive nod.

Eriamjh
Addicted to MacNN

Joined: Oct 2001

0

03/04, 05:32pm | report spam | close Reply |
Intel chip, yes.

X86 processor, no.

beeble
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Joined: Mar 2004

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03/04, 09:02pm | report spam | close Reply |
Ethernet

Apple have used Intel Ethernet controller chips in various models of macs going back a decade or more. USB is from Intel (I don't know who actually is making the controllers that Apple is using though. I also have several internal optical drives built by Sony and they actually compete with Apple (Intel don't make computers - at least not real computers (refer to article about mini knock off)).

"So" is right. This is completely irrelevant to pretty much anything other than, with Intel promoting it, XServe RAID is getting extra exposure to people who might not hear of it otherwise. Mind you, anyone in IT who hasn't been living under a rock has heard of XServe, XServe RAID and OS X. People who are hearing about it for the first time through this are not people who make purchasing decisions (they probably have difficulty typing an email they are so far removed from the real IT world) and so even the extra exposure is pretty much irrelevant.

The only thing this says is that Apple uses the best chip for the job. For computers that's the PowerPC. For a RAID it is going to be something else and in this case, one of the chips used is from Intel.

JEB
Junior Member

Joined: May 2001

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03/04, 11:37pm | report spam | close Reply |
Belong to us

All of your Intel are belong to us!

testudo
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03/05, 01:45pm | report spam | close Reply |
re: testudo

Ummm.... What's your point? Even if only one person buys one because they think using Intel puts it in the big leagues, or because Intel actually showed it/demoed it, etc as an example of good uses of their tech (and thus gives it some more mindshare), it's good for apple.

The point is that Apple isn't using Intel chips because somehow that magically will make the product viable to people, nor can I imagine Apple saying "Hey, we can make a great xServe using this chip from this no-name company over here, but if we use an Intel chip, it won't be as good, but it'll have Intel inside and people will buy it". The chip was used because it happened to be what they needed. If it were important to Apple that people knew it was using some Intel chip, they'd have mentioned it.

No one, and I mean no one, will buy or not buy this product because it happens to contain an Intel chip inside, esp. since Intel produces hundreds of different types of chips for all sorts of devices. No one goes around looking for cell phone because there's an Intel chip inside, just like no one will go around and buy an XRaid because its got some freaky Intel chip inside. This makes the whole "Apple's using an Intel chip inside" point of the article just pointless. Its a "who cares" kind of thing. [And if someone does buy it because of this, that just goes to show you there are idiots in this world who have no idea what they are doing.]

And yes, the fact that the original iMac was the first production computer that relied on Intel's USB technology (as opposed to a largely irrelevant and unused after thought as it was on some PCs at the time) gave it credibility . . . .if it used some other technology that was apple only, instead of USB, it would have been somewhat less credible.

But, again, you missed the point, which is that Apple has been using Intel tech for years. So how does the fact that the xRaid uses some unknown Intel tech warrant any mention in any publication? Its made to sound like the use of an Intel chip somehow means Apple is starting to change their tune. However, it means nothing, because Apple's been doing this for 5+ years.

Oh, and, generally, unless its a x86 chip, and not just some controller chip or the like, it really doesn't matter either, because most people have never heard of this chip, nor know what it does nor whether it does it well. Maybe you spend your time checking circuit boards and motherboards determining who makes the IDE controller and SATA controller and memory controllers, etc, etc, etc, but most people right now couldn't tell you, and could care less, if their macs had an intel chip inside it running the PCI bus or not.

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Intel inside Apple's Xserve RAID storage system

updated 03:45 am EST, Fri March 4, 2005

Apple uses Intel chip

So?

re: so?

re: so?

Exposure

Re: Exposure

besides...

Original AirPort had...

Ewwww

g4

And?

Good!

Re: exposure

Intel chip? Or Apple?

CNET News.Com

re: testudo

So.... something

Intel chip, yes.

Ethernet

Belong to us

re: testudo

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Intel inside Apple's Xserve RAID storage system

updated 03:45 am EST, Fri March 4, 2005

Apple uses Intel chip

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So?

re: so?

re: so?

Exposure

Re: Exposure

besides...

Original AirPort had...

Ewwww

g4

And?

Good!

Re: exposure

Intel chip? Or Apple?

CNET News.Com

re: testudo

So.... something

Intel chip, yes.

Ethernet

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re: testudo

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