colocation
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MacStadium to provide new Mac Pro hosting and colocation
For the Mac faithful, it won't do to share space on just any server -- you want to use a Mac server. Likewise, we like to have our own Mac servers colocated at a place that specializes in Macs. That's why hosting providers like MacStadium are so popular. Now MacStadium has announced that as soon as the new Mac Pros arrive, they'll be ready to rack 'em and stack 'em in their hosting and colocation center. The company expects to be able to fit 270 Mac Pro servers per POD on only 12 square feet of floor space in their datacenter. That's what that Lego-like image above represents, with Mac Pros sitting on their sides stacked 15 tall, nine wide and two deep. That MacStadium facility provides redundant cooling, power and security systems, and each of those Mac Pros will be connected to the world with Gigabit Ethernet through a 50 GB/s network backbone. The existing Mac Pro, according to MacStadium, has never been popular in the hosting and colocation world because of their huge physical footprint and high power draw. MacStadium will be able to provide Mac Pros as a monthly rental or purchase, or you can send in your configured Mac Pro for collocation.
Daily Update for June 17, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
New Mac mini tear down and benchmarks from Mac Mini Vault
The Mac Mini Vault has already grabbed a new Mac mini and taken it apart. You can read through the site's teardown and analysis right now. The short version is that much of the mini's design is the same. As you can see above, with the new version on the left and the 2011 version on the right. But because of the upgraded processor and memory, the new version is much faster than the last one, with nearly an extra thousand score on Geekbench tests. Mac Mini Vault (one of a few businesses offering Mac mini co-location) has a few more tests coming later on this week, including benchmarking on a few different operating systems running on the new mini, as well as a look at the new Mac mini server model that Apple has added to the lineup. It's great to see the mini getting some love, as it's an affordable and powerful way to run Apple's excellent hardware and OS in all kinds of different ways.
MacMiniColo will host your Mac Mini server for just $10/month for 6 months
Colocation facilities are typically stuffed full of various rack-mounted servers running all manner of websites and other tasks with fat pipe connections to internet backbones. One company, MacMiniColo, offers colocation services and is dedicated to hosting Mac mini servers. Long before Apple introduced the dedicated Mac mini server a year ago, MacMiniColo has been setting up all flavors of the headless Mac for customers. The Mini makes an excellent server thanks to its compact dimensions, low power consumption, good reliability and reasonable power. Servers don't generally need a lot of inputs and outputs, just a fast ethernet connection -- and the Mini server comes with a gigabit port. MacMiniColo currently has a promotional deal available that expires tonight, at 12 AM Pacific Time (so if you want to take advantage of the offer, head to MacMiniColo's site now). You can get six months of colocation service for your Mini for just US$10 a month with 200 GB per month of bandwidth. After the first six months, pricing reverts to one of the regular plans that start at $35 per month. That should be enough time to try it out and see if the company can meet your needs. TUAW's Steve Sande used MacMiniColo for some time. You can either send in your existing Mini to the data center in Las Vegas or have MacMiniColo provide one for your needs.
Intel's Atom gets used in... servers?
Sure, we've been excited about Intel's Atom CPU being used in netbook-class devices, but UK ISP Bytemark apparently thinks the power-sipping chip has the horsepower to handle low-end server duties as well. For £45 ($89) a month, you can colo a 1.6GHz Atom box running Linux with 2GB of RAM and a pair of 100GB SATA drives -- not a terrible deal, and probably a damn sight more reliable than a pile of duct tape or a dead frog. Still, we're not exactly sure we'd want to run our business on the rough equivalent of an Eee 901, you know?
Win a Mac mini, hosting and a MacBook Air
Aside from being a company with a name that's dangerously close to copyright infringement, Macminicolo has long been dedicated to creating hosting solutions for Mac users. In fact, they only host - you guessed it - Mac minis. It's a pretty nice service. Just send them your mini and they host it for you and give you full access (it's all yours, not shared). If you've thought about colocation but shuddered at the cost, this could be your chance. Right now, Macminicolo is running a contest to find the greatest answer to the question: "What would you do with a remote mini?" Start up a new business? Create a non-profit? The contestant who submits the best answer will receive a year's free hosting, a Mac mini and a MacBook Air. As Jeff Probst would say, "Worth playing for?" Yes, Jeff, it is.You can get the details here. Good luck!
