“Ausmelt is a $13 million outfit that supplies smelting technology services around the clock to huge global enterprises such as Alcoa, Mitsui, Korea Zinc and Rio Tinto… there’s not a Mac in sight among its 40-odd Windows XP and 2000 desktop computers – but there is a dual-processor Apple Xserve network server at the centre of this hub of industry,” David Frith reports for Australian IT.
“The Xserve has replaced an older Windows NT server felt to be too expensive – given Microsoft’s hefty site licensing fees – and no longer up to the job,” Frith reports. “The Apple machine was installed in less than two hours, cost about half the price of a Windows server upgrade, and has significantly better performance, Ausmelt says. The Xserve is a tiny thing, just 4cm high. But, now powered by IBM’s 64-bit G4 PowerPC processors, it packs a mighty wallop