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With up to two Quad-Core 3.0 GHz Intel Xeon processors, a new server architecture, faster front side buses, faster memory, up to 3TB of internal storage and two PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots, the new server is up to twice as fast as its predecessor.

It comes with a preinstalled, unlimited client edition of Leopard Server software, providing full Unix-compliance, true 64-bit support, easy-to-use management tools and support for Mac, Linux and Windows clients. Leopard Server has around 250 new features, including Podcast Producer, Wiki Server and and iCal Server, the world's first commercial CalDAV standard-based calendar server.

"With the latest Intel processors and no client access licenses, Xserve offers unbeatable server performance and value for under $3,000," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Xserve's power, storage and Leopard Server make it ideal for supporting Mac clients and mixed platform workgroups."

Xserve is configurable with up to two Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 series processors running up to 3.0GHz

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with 12MB of L2 cache per processor and features a new high-bandwidth hardware architecture, dual-independent 1600MHz front side buses and up to 32GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory. Two PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots provide up to four times the I/O bandwidth of the previous Xserve to support the latest high-bandwidth expansion cards including multi-channel 4Gb Fibre channel and 10Gb Ethernet cards.

Xserve now includes built-in graphics to drive up to a 23in Apple Cinema Display and a new front-facing USB 2.0 port. Using Apple's Server Monitor, an administrator can remotely turn Xserve on or off and manage server software from anywhere on the network. Each of Xserve's three drive bays can be configured with 73GB or 300GB SAS drives or 80GB and 1TB SATA drives.

An optional RAID card option delivers hardware RAID levels 0, 1 and 5 with 256MB of cache and an included backup battery for up to 72 hours of cached data protection. The Xserve RAID card delivers up to 251MB/s RAID 5 performance without using a PCI Express expansion slot.

Energy efficiency is improved with the use of Intel's 45nm core microarchitecture technology. The processors draw a maximum consumption of 80W, and drop as low as 4W when idle. Power supplies exceed Energy Star recommendations from the US Department of Energy and Apple's thermal management technology is designed to cool the systems efficiently in a wide variety of environments while reducing power consumption.

For more information go to apple.com/xserve.

UPDATE: Xserve costs from £1,701 exc. VAT, £1,999.00 inc. VAT.