June 24 - 8:55am EDT   Apple has released a minor update to its flagship video editing suite, Final Cut Pro. The v6.0.6 patch addresses problems with real-time playback on early 2009 models of the Mac Pro and Xserve. Specifically, the hardware and software should now be better at handling complex sequences and/or formats which consume a lot of bandwidth. The update is a 19.15MB download, and requires Mac OS X 10.5.5. [full story]

April 7 - 9:30am EDT   Validating recent leaks, Apple has released two new Xserve models. The servers are sized to fit a 1U rack, and have been upgraded to Intel's Nehalem platform, which Apple claims can produce up to an 89 percent improvement in terms of performance per watt. The base model uses a single, 2.26GHz quad-core Xeon CPU, while the upper tier adds a second Xeon and allows scaling clock speed up to 2.93GHz. [full story]

April 2 - 11:25pm EDT   Apple today has accidentally confirmed plans of its own to launch Xserve rackmount servers based on Xeon processors using Intel's Nehalem architecture. A Hong Kong product page (still active as of this writing) has a broken image link that asks users to "pre-order the new Xserve using Intel Xeon (Nehalem)" but doesn't take visitors to a relevant page. No specifications or other details have surfaced with the link itself. [full story]

April 1 - 10:40am EDT   The new Nehalem-based Xserves may launch in tandem with Mac OS X 10.5.7, investigation reveals. The evidence is said to lay within the most recent developer seed of v10.5.7, which contains an extension file called AppleTyMCEDriver. Inside is a machine identifier listed as "Xserve3,1;" the same identifier appears in a Nehalem-specific error message, which also mentions the most recent Mac Pro. [full story]

March 31 - 1:30pm EDT   Apple will introduce an updated line of Xserves within the next few weeks, connected sources are said to claim. The servers, designed for 1U rackmounts, are also said to be based on Intel's Nehalem platform, specifically the Xeon 3500 and 5500 processors originally introduced with the latest Mac Pro. Should they mirror configurations of current Xserves, the new ones are predicted to be divided into single-processor 2.66, 2.93 and 3.2GHz models, alongside 2.26, 2.66, 2.8 and 2.93GHz dual-processor options. [full story]

February 6 - 9:30am EST   Apple is ending most or all of its support for a host of older Macs, according to a memo issued to Apple Authorized Service Providers this week. Headlining the bulletin is a range of "obsolete" products, which Apple classifies as hardware that was discontinued over seven years ago; these include the PowerBook G4, and digital audio or Quicksilver models of the PowerMac G4 and Macintosh Server G4. As of March 17th, no support of any kind will be available for the obsolete systems, including replacement parts. [full story]

January 13 - 4:05pm EST   Problems with Mac OS X Server are causing some corporate networks to come to a crawl, complaints from network administrators indicate. The problem is believed to stem specifically from Apple File Protocol, as used by Mac OS X Leopard Server; whereas Leopard typically consumes only a portion of the CPU power on an Xserve, some administrators have noticed quad- and eight-core Xserves becoming non-functional due to AFP activity. CPU burden can become as bad as 800 percent, according to one complaint. [full story]

November 12 - 9:35am EST   The senior VP of Apple's enterprise sales division is leaving the company and will not be replaced, reports claim. Al Shipp, said to have been with Apple since 2004, is departing for places and reasons unknown. His immediate subordinates will instead have to follow John Brandon, the senior VP of sales for the Americas and Asia-Pacific. These include Stuart Maclennan, a director of territory sales; David Puklin, a director of named accounts; and Ron Police, the VP for federal and governmental sales. [full story]

October 31 - 3:00am EDT  An ex-IBM chip design expert is expected join Apple next month, but is facing a lawsuit from his former employer that could block his employment with the Cupertino-based company. According to the complaint, former IBM executive Mark Papermaster will join in Apple as a senior executive in what could be an attempt to make new inroads into the server market and/or bolster the company's Xserve line up. Papermaster, expected to work closely with Apple CEO Steve Jobs, is being sued by IBM to block his employment at Apple and prevent him from divulging trade secrets related to IBM's Power chips and server products. [full story]

September 18 - 10:35am EDT   Atempo today announced Mac releases of its Atempo Digital Archive (ADA) and Digital Archive for Messaging (ADAM) software, with support for Apple's Xserve and Final Cut Server. ADA allows automated transfer of data from a primary disk to archives. End-users have access to a client interface, which lets them drag and drop files from source directories to archives. [full story]

July 21 - 5:10pm EDT   As a part of its Q3 2008 financial results, Apple has posted explicit figures for sales by region, sector and product. The bulk of sales were of course in the Americas, where the company sold slightly over 1.1 million CPU units, producing a revenue of approximately $3.4 billion. The next-largest market was Europe, with 576,000 units and revenues of $1.6 billion. The retail sector, measured separately, is said to have accounted for 476,000 units, and revenue of $1.4 billion. Japan amounted to only 102,000 units and $365 million in revenue, but Apple supplemented this with $571 million from "other segments," including FileMaker and Asia Pacific streams. [full story]

June 28 - 4:10pm EDT   ZDNet has announced what it says is the first tool for overclocking the Mac Pro. Windows options for overclocking are prevalent, but none have been available for the Mac Pro, according to ZDNet. It claims that the new software, called ZDNet Clock, is capable of speed increases of 15 to 20 percent, and most computers with 2.8GHz chips should be able to meet or exceed 3.2 GHz. The version 1.0 software supports Intel processors on a Mac Pro or Xserve and requires Max OS X 10.5; it is available for download now, free of charge. [full story]

June 18 - 4:25pm EDT   Following only a day after the release of Parallels Server for Mac, Media Temple has begun a private beta of (xv) (Xserve-Virtual), a new hosting service. The company takes Parallels Server, and combines it with Apple's Xserve hardware to run virtualized copies of Mac OS X Leopard Server. The primary advantage of this is said to be lower price overhead than a dedicated Leopard server, while still retaining access to flexible resources. [full story]

June 16 - 11:10pm EDT  Apple on Monday unveiled Xserve EFI Firmware Update 1.1 for Intel Xserve servers, stating that the patch offers users improved stability when applied. As with most recent Apple updates, little is revealed about what problems the update resolves; it is not known whether "stability improvements" refers to freezing, kernel panics, or other miscellaneous temporary failures. Xserve EFI Firmware Update 1.1 is available from Apple's support website, and through Software Update. [full story]

May 15 - 6:55pm EDT   HighPoint Technologies recently announced a new firmware update to the RocketRAID 3522 SATA hardware RAID controller, which will support booting to Mac OS X on Apple Mac Pro and Xserve models released from (2006 through 2008). The RocketRAID 3522 is a PCI-Express x8 external hardware RAID controller with Intel IOP 341 (800MHz) RAID engine and will support up to 8 SATA hard drives. [full story]