Apple used to even sell Xserve RAID and SAN software specifically to cater to the higher end users who needed fast networked storage (research, broadcast, media).

They kinda hit a standstill on the networking side as they moved to the trash can Mac, and I think that had killed momentum towards any high speed IO besides the Thunderbolt ports moving forward.

I was hopeful they'd keep the Mac Pro going into the M-series era but after one version... it's gone.