Apple to discontinue Xserve

Apple has announced it will no longer produce its enterprise-grade Xserve servers from the beginning of 2011.   

"Xserve will no longer be available after January 31, but we'll continue to fully support it," Apple said on its website, promising to honour warranty and support programs for three years after purchase.

Customers that want to upgrade from existing Xserve investments would have two choices: a server edition of Mac Pro or Mac Mini with Snow Leopard Server. 

According to Apple, the transition shouldn't be a major problem as its desktop tower systems and Mac Mini surpass Xserve in processing power and energy efficiency.

"Mac Pro is a viable server alternative to Xserve except where the high-density 1U rackmount form factor is required," the company explained. 

Although the Mac mini was not designed to fit a rack, two would fit a 1U space neatly, according to Apple. 

Apple's quad and eight core Xserve servers were still advertised to Australian customers at AU$4,699 and AU$5,699 respectively this morning. Both offer 3GB memory and 160 GB storage.

Further details on the transition can be found in this PDF.