As an avid Apple fan (like most of you), I eagerly await the next tower release.
As an owner of a 2009 octo-2.93Ghz machine, I REALLY do not NEED a replacement at the moment. My machine screams. I have some SSDs, and plenty of RAM and it's just a faultless machine. I run a mix of web & graphics software, parallels, and audio editing software like Ableton LIVE and Traktor - often all at the same time. With 16GB RAM I never have an issue.
The fact that you can turn a 2009 model into a 2010/2012 model with a simple firmware update and upgrade to the CPUs, makes my 2009 model feel 'not so old'. I'll probably stick an OWC Mercury Accelsior PCI card in, upgrade to the Radeon 5870, and double the RAM in a few weeks to keep it purring for another 12 - 24 months.
With all that out of the way. YES I AM EXCITED about this potential new Mac Pro. I even have cash in the bank that I COULD use to buy one with - even though I don't need it LOL.
Time for a new chassis/case. Perhaps the fibre Thunderbolt others have mentioned. Probably a smaller enclosure too. Maybe they could do 2 case sizes. One for all SSD, and one that accommodates larger drives. They make 2 different MacBook Pro sizes, no reason they wouldn't do 2 tower sizes