After years of encouragement from Apple Computer Inc., people finally are switching to the company's computers, but in an unexpected way.

Apple, best known for its flashy desktop and notebook computers, has attracted a new set of converts among hardware resellers with its Xserve rack server, released in May. Companies used to selling servers from hardware heavyweights such as Sun Microsystems Inc. and IBM Corp. have started to add the Xserve to their lineups, saying the system brings Apple's celebrated ease-of-use expertise to a powerful server. The combination of elegant software and a well-constructed system have the resellers convinced Apple can reach out beyond its loyal customer base and into the data center.

"It surprised us, because the demand for Xserve is better than we thought it would be," said Robert Wilkins, executive vice president of PC Connection Inc. a Merrimack, New Hampshire-based computer seller. "Our sales have more than quadrupled on the Xserve in the last month, and we have a good mix of new customers and existing customers upgrading to the new server."

Although analysts doubt Apple's ability to bite off a big chunk of the server market, they do say the company has come up with a system that could stir up healthy competition with its rivals. Apple's Unix-based Mac OS X Server operating system with an unlimited-client license, coupled with its competitively priced hardware, could be the keys to making the Xserve attractive to new customers. In addition, Apple has added several new management and security tools into Version 10.2 of Mac OS X Server, released last week, that could bolster the Xserve's appeal.

"The new Apple gear runs Unix as its foundation, so there is a real opportunity for people who like something graceful but also need all the normal network services and standard Unix/Linux kind of stuff," said Jonathan Eunice, an analyst at Illuminata Inc., in Nashua, New Hampshire. "That is a powerful dynamic."

Some hardware resellers have bet on this dynamic and expanded their hardware portfolios to include the Xserve.

Since its founding in 1989, Marathon International Group Inc., based in Sunnyvale, California, has been a devoted reseller of Sun servers. However, the company will add the Xserve to its lineup after hearing positive feedback about the system.

"Because the OS is based on Unix, it communicates easily with Unix servers such as Sun machines on the back end running Oracle or other database software such as MySQL," said Jim Hall, president and chief executive officer at Marathon. "It also has features like built-in firewall software, the Apache Web server with PHP and Perl extensions, Sendmail and single or dual PowerPC processors that make it a great front-end server."

Hall sees the Xserve as a natural fit in his Sun line-up. Administrators familiar with Sun's Solaris version of Unix can fall back on a command line interface with the Xserve but also manage the server through Apple's popular Mac OS X GUI (graphical user interface).

"Apple takes the stability and portability of Unix and adds their (easy-to-use) end-user interface to it,"

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