Scaleway turns Mac minis into high‑density, Raspberry Pi–managed servers

Summary

Take a behind-the-scenes look at how Scaleway brought the Mac mini as-a-Service to life — transforming Apple’s compact desktop into a highly available cloud server hosted in state-of-the-art datacenters. From Consumer Machine to Cloud Server: A Fully Controlled Pipeline Apple designs the Mac mini. inmac wstore supplies it. Scaleway transforms it into a ready-to-use dedicated server, accessible remotely from anywhere in the world. Scaleway’s mission is clear: to provide iOS and macOS developers, macOS software users, and businesses of all sizes with remote access to the power of Apple silicon (M-series) chips — all within a controlled, secure, and high-performance environment. Each Mac mini is managed automatically. Once installed in the racks, Scaleway’s teams add a custom Mobile Device Management (MDM) profile to deploy system settings remotely, along with a set of server-specific tools that compensate for the lack of a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC). This enables granular management of each machine. Thanks to this process, we at Scaleway can deliver a consumer-grade Mac mini as a fully reliable dedicated server, seamlessly integrated into our cloud ecosystem — ready to meet even the most demanding production needs. A Datacenter Designed for Efficiency and Resilience All Scaleway Mac minis are hosted exclusively in French datacenters, ensuring sovereign hosting that meets the highest standards for security, privacy, and data locality in Europe. At the heart of this infrastructure lies Opcore DC2, Scaleway’s strategic datacenter located in Vitry-sur-Seine, where hundreds of Mac minis run side by side with traditional bare-metal servers — all within a resilient, high-performance network architecture monitored in real time. Scaleway’s datacenter design reflects its commitment to performance and reliability: Power & Redundancy: 3N electrical system with automatic failover, three backup generators, and a total power capacity of up to 8,000 kW. Precision Cooling: ...