Specifications

15
Technology Overview
Xserve
the speed of execution for these instructions. It accelerates a broad range of video,
speech and image, photo processing, encryption, financial, engineering, and scientific
applications.
64-Bit Processor Architecture
Working with Mac OS X, the 64-bit Intel Xeon architecture breaks through the 4GB
memory limit of 32-bit processing. In fact, it’s able to access virtually unlimited physical
memory. It can manipulate data and execute instructions in chunks that are twice as
large (64 bits versus 32 bits).
This all adds up to exceptional speed and agility, including the ability to perform
multiple, simultaneous, 64-bit double-precision floating-point and huge integer
calculations in every clock cycle. In contrast, a 32-bit processor must break these types
of computations into multiple pieces, requiring multiple passes through the processor
that slow down application performance.
The leap in performance from 32-bit to 64-bit processing brings previously unman-
ageable tasks into the realm of practicality. These include highly accurate calculations
required for scientific analysis, technical research, 3D effects, and video encoding.
Multiple Cores and Mac OS X Server
Designed from day one for multiple processors, Mac OS X Server is ideally suited
to leverage the power of multiple-core systems. With the symmetric multiprocessing,
preemptive multitasking, and multithreading capabilities in Mac OS X Server, Xserve
delivers groundbreaking system performance.
Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) in Mac OS X Server dynamically manages tasks
across multiple processors—and multiple processor cores—without requiring any
special optimization of the application or any configuration on the administrator’s
part. With SMP, administrative tasks can be run in the background while the service
tasks are running. Mac OS X Server assigns each of these tasks to a different processor
or core for simultaneous execution, and automatically balances the load between
processors.
Preemptive multitasking further optimizes performance by allowing Mac OS X Server
to prioritize tasks on each processor or core.
Applications can take even greater advantage of multiple cores when they are
written to be multithreaded. Most server applications, including Mac OS X Server
services, are multithreaded, achieving significantly faster performance on multicore
systems like Xserve.