“Apple Computer’s rack-mounted storage system received a vote of confidence Monday, with database giant Oracle endorsing the Xserve RAID as part of an initiative to cut storage costs,” Ina Fried reports for CNET News. “Oracle has identified the Apple product as one of several storage systems that would make a good low-cost alternative to the types of high-end monolithic storage systems that have traditionally been used to store Oracle databases. Additionally, Oracle is using the Xserve RAID in its own technology department to store e-mail, voice mail and calendar information.”
“Oracle is using the Xserve RAID for a task once reserved for pricier Fibre Channel-based disk arrays. The software giant noted in a white paper that the Apple approach was about three times lower on a cost-per-megabyte basis,” Fried reports. “‘Its performance is excellent,’ Oracle said in the document. Apple said Oracle plans to use 50 to 100 terabytes of Apple storage… In addition to support from Oracle, Apple also plans to have its own US$999 storage file system software, dubbed Xsan, available shortly. The software is still on track to be launched this fall, Apple said, giving the company about two weeks to apply the finishing touches and start shipping.”
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