Apple Computer has announced the availability of three new models of its Xserve RAID Fibre Channel storage array that leverage new 500 GB Hitachi-built, Apple-certified parallel ATA hard drives. The base model Xserve RAID, with 1 TB of available storage in a RAID 0 (no parity or mirroring) configuration, costs $5,999 and continues to use four 250 GB ATA drives. The two higher-end models stuffed with seven and fourteen 500 GB drives cost $8,499 and $12,999, respectively. All models have dual 2 gigabit/second Fibre Channel ports, dual RAID controllers with 512 MB of cache each, redundant hot-swappable power supplies, 100 Mbit Ethernet management ports, RS-232 UPS monitoring ports and a Java-based administrative console that controls all features of multiple Xserve RAID arrays. Once configured, Xserve RAID is transparently compatible with standards-compliant operating systems, storage switches and enterprise applications. Apple’s Xsan software, running on Xserve rack servers, harnesses one or more Xserve RAID units to create a managed storage area network.The 500 GB Apple Drive Module, a drive mounted in a hot-swappable tray compatible with existing Xserve G4, Xserve G5 and Xserve RAID systems, is available separately for $499. Each Apple Drive Module is given a 24-hour burn in and ships from Apple with zero hard defects. For the first time, Apple has also revealed the tally of Xserve RAID’s sales to date. Apple claims to have delivered 76 petabytes’ worth of storage to customers. It’s impossible to convert that to units sold or dollar volume, which is Apple’s intent, but if that figure reflected only complete Xserve RAID array units averaging 3 TB per unit, Apple would have shipped over 25,000 Xserve RAIDs to date.During an interview with Alex Grossman, Apple’s Senior Director of Server and Storage Hardware, I learned that support for the new 500 GB drives was slipstreamed into Apple’s prior Xserve RAID firmware update, so existing customers will be able to swap in 500 GB Apple Drive Modules immediately. The 500 GB Apple Drive Moodules also raise the maximum internal storage of Xserve G5 and Xserve G4 1U rack servers to 1.5 TB. In these servers, RAID features are provided either by an optional expansion card or RAID software built into OS X Server.Grossman said that in addition to the performance improvements gained as a function of higher density per platter, Apple’s latest Xserve RAID firmware speeds up background rebuilds of arrays in which drives have been replaced. According to Grossman, Apple is also taking pains to ensure that customers don’t receive a full batch of drives from the same lot to reduce the likelihood that some transient manufacturing flaw affecting drive reliability will affect multiple drives placed in a single array. For existing Xserve RAID customers, Grossman advises swapping out Apple Drive Modules after roughly three years of production use. For Apple, “production use” is as likely to refer to continuous, live high-bandwidth satellite uplinks, as is the case with Xserve RAID customers CNN and Poland’s TVN, to large-scale Oracle database servers or massive on-line services like Apple’s own iTunes Music Store.Addressing critics who consider parallel ATA to be an obsolete or consumer-targeted storage technology, Alex Grossman defends Apple’s use of the technology by saying “we care about ATA.” “Other storage array vendors don’t get it, but the drive makers do,” referring to the high quality, performance and value of modern parallel ATA drives when bolstered by Apple’s enterprise-targeted enhancements to on-drive firmware and Xserve RAID’s hardware controller design.Apple has a history of frequently releasing new Xserve RAID models and Apple Drive Modules of higher denssity while keeping prices stable. 7 TB of storage in one platform-independent 3U rack chassis will undoubtedly be embraced by storage-starved shops operating on realistic budgets. In other words, Apple will have many more petabytes to brag about next quarter. Software Development