Apple packs the house at NAB

MacCentral ^ | 04/20/2005 | Jim Dalrymple

[r5boston]

What do you get when you put a tall dark haired man in front of 36 systems in a rack serving 200 terabytes of data, five miles of cable (one-half of which is fibre) and 40 desktop systems all in a room? If you guessed anything other than Apple executive Richard Kerris standing in front of the company's booth at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas, Nev., you would have been wrong.

The Apple booth was so busy during its demo sessions that people had to take alternate routes because they couldn't make it through the crowds. From a packed house in the demo sessions to jammed aisles in the booth itself, everyone with an Apple shirt was being riddled with questions. It wasn't at all uncommon to see show badges with the names of some of the biggest movie and television studios in the world printed on them.

"This is one of those beautiful moments that we hit it out of the park," a smiling Richard Kerris, Apple's senior director Pro Apps Technical Marketing told MacCentral. "We are more committed to NAB this year than any other before."

[js1138]

Nothing like a show of support from Hollywood.

[SengirV]

Some nervous Microsoft clone will be here in no time, ripping Apple. If you are so secure in your world dominance, they why bother with little ole Apple?

[July 4th]

And why are you so paranoid? ;)

[No-Compromise Conservative]

Apple's a joke, they only appeal to the pony-tailed and sandal wearing Berkeley crowd.

[SlowBoat407]

Must... Ignore... bomb-throwers.

[Spktyr]

Really? So President Bush and Rush Limbaugh meet that description? They must, because they're both avid Mac users.

[Seeking the truth]

Wow...a busy booth at a convention!

Never heard of such a thing.

Freep Stuff, Pajama Patrol Stuff...lots of other stuff too!

[Spktyr]

Ping!

[SaveTheChief]

Let's see here. FIVE MILES of cable? That's 26,400 feet of cable between 40 computers and a rack of servers, all supposedly in one room. I assume these 36 systems take more than one rack, but let's do some math here.

Half of the cable is fiber, so that's 13,200 feet. Assuming that each server and computer is connecting to a router or switch, and each device is equidistant from the central point, that's about 174 feet per connection! And the servers are most likely stacked on top of one another...

That's one heck of a big booth!

[Spktyr]

Mac ping!

[HAL9000]

Then why did Microsoft purchase $150 million of Apple stock back in 1997 and helped revitalize the company?

To gain access to Apple's patent portfolio and avoid lawsuits. It was the best investment Microsoft ever made.

[SengirV]

So you are saying that the $150 mill investment saved the company even though Apple had around $3 billion in the bank at the time?

[TC Rider]

Really? So President Bush and Rush Limbaugh meet that description? They must, because they're both avid Mac users.

Ah! The exceptions that prove the rule!

[Swordmaker]

Apple packs the house at National Association of Broadcasters show PING!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[Swordmaker]

And why are you so paranoid? ;)

Experience.

[cyborg]

:sigh:

[Swordmaker]

Then why did Microsoft purchase $150 million of Apple stock back in 1997 and helped revitalize the company?

Because it was part of a undisclosed copyright lawsuit settlement . . . and included agreements on permitting Microsoft sharing certain Apple copyrights for a three year period.

[N3WBI3]

Given my wife the stay at home mom is an apple user, and her borther who lives in Berkeley and has a pony tail is a windowns admin I call bs..