[X4U] X-serve vs. Mac Pro as server

[Jim Robertson]

My 6-practitioner nephrology medical practice is about to take its first
steps into the late 20th century. We'll be implementing an electronic
appointment book, and we'll be configuring it so that the docs and staff
(those with appropriate privileges) will have web access to it.

We're looking at a product created in FileMaker Pro as well as some others.
Ideally, I'd like to configure it so that users could get secure (https)
access, which I understand means using FileMaker Server (actually, FileMaker
Server Advanced to get web accessibility).

As we purchase hardware to accomplish this, one issue is what we need as a
server computer. My limited understanding is that major advantages of
Apple's X-serve hardware include the ability to administer it remotely
(which I likely would be called upon to do), as well as auto-recovery after
power failures. The X-serve computers are EXPENSIVE; I'm wondering if the
major reason they're expensive is because they come bundled with OS X server
software.

Can an X-serve also function as a routine workstation? In other words, could
I use one of those as my routine workstation as well? I think we have
adequate network and hardware (all cabling is cat-5e, and we have gigabit
switches, 4 static ip addresses from our ISP, and an 802.11n (draft)
wireless router.

Most of the clients for the appointments program will be on Windows. I'm
told that the server can be Mac OS with no problems because FMP is truly
cross-platform. Anyone know of real issues there? It might make sense to use
a windows box as the server because future network applications may well be
Windows only; However, we're still a year or two away from implementations
such as electronic medical records because the solutions that WORK are
horrendously expensive ($50,000 to $100,000 per physician), and there's as
yet no viable model regarding who should or can pay for this. So, as long as
we're starting with a web-accessible FMP database, I think it makes sense to
use a Mac as the server because I can get up to speed more quickly on the
platform I understand the best.

At the moment we're in the earliest phases of considering this, so I'm
basically just looking for general information regarding hardware/server
OS/use of the server simultaneously as a workstation/FileMaker
cross-platform issues, etc.

Thanks so much,

Jim Robertson
--