(I'm the datacenter manager at imgix, and wrote this post)
It is pretty frustrating. We've joked around about how Apple will probably announce a new Xserve at WWDC next month, now that we've done the work to get the Pros happy in production.
I don't really see them re-entering this space though. Apple already has a LOT of businesses that they are clearly bored with. iPods, the Thunderbolt Display, their mice, and so on. They seem to be unable to get engineering motivation behind "unsexy" products, which I definitely think a new Xserve would classify as.
Plus, just making it rack mountable wouldn't necessarily cover our use case. What if it didn't have GPUs, or couldn't fit the ones we wanted? A lot of server class GPUs can't fit in a 1U enclosure, they need 1.5U or 2U chassis for airflow and heatsinks and whatnot.
I think the problem isn't "unsexy", but service and scale.
Buyers of rackmounts require a totally different kind of service. It's not just about the iron, it's a largely separate operation from the consumer PC business. You don't exactly take your Xserve to the Genuis bar...
There simply isn't enough demand for Xserves to make it worth the investment for Apple. (As far as I remember, many companies that bought the original Xserves phased them out again because Apple couldn't deliver that kind of service.)
Also true. Apple is not a server company, and they never will be.
I try to lean on vendor support as little as possible, because it does me no good to point a finger at a vendor when something goes wrong -- I just want it fixed, even if I have to do it in-house. But you still need someone to go back to when push comes to shove, and I just don't see Apple being set up for that kind of support.
In fact, Apple isn't even set up for the kind of purchasing that goes along with it. They're a really old, staid organization when it comes to the sales structure. We wound up going with a VAR rather than direct, simply to improve the experience.
It is pretty frustrating. We've joked around about how Apple will probably announce a new Xserve at WWDC next month, now that we've done the work to get the Pros happy in production.
I don't really see them re-entering this space though. Apple already has a LOT of businesses that they are clearly bored with. iPods, the Thunderbolt Display, their mice, and so on. They seem to be unable to get engineering motivation behind "unsexy" products, which I definitely think a new Xserve would classify as.
Plus, just making it rack mountable wouldn't necessarily cover our use case. What if it didn't have GPUs, or couldn't fit the ones we wanted? A lot of server class GPUs can't fit in a 1U enclosure, they need 1.5U or 2U chassis for airflow and heatsinks and whatnot.