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Apple Files Plans for 500,000 Square-Foot Oregon Data Center

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Apr 12, 2001
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Back in February, Apple announced plans to build a new data center in Prineville, Oregon, and by late April it was revealed that Apple had agreed to invest $250 million in the project. The company has already begun installing modular data center buildings at the site while it continues to work toward permanent facilities.

The Associated Press now reports that Apple has filed its plans with the city of Prineville, revealing its goal of constructing 500,000 square feet of data center space, on par with Apple's facility in Maiden, North Carolina.
The plan shows two buildings with more than 500,000 square feet of what are described as "data halls," The Bend Bulletin reported Wednesday. The plan doesn't say when Apple might start building.

"They really didn't say how long they are looking at," Prineville senior planner Joshua Smith said.

A company spokeswoman, Kristin Huguet, referred Wednesday to the company's early statements on the development, which forecast "hiring dozens of people and bringing hundreds of construction jobs to the area" but didn't set a construction schedule.
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The report notes that Apple is also partnering with Prineville on expanding the city's water supply by tapping a newly-discovered underground stream. Under the deal, Apple will help convert some existing test wells into production wells to meet the company's needs and beyond, with the city reimbursing Apple over time.

Article Link: Apple Files Plans for 500,000 Square-Foot Oregon Data Center
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/08/16/apple-files-plans-for-500000-square-foot-oregon-data-center/
H

herocero

macrumors regular
Jan 23, 2003
148
127
down on the upside
cuencap said:
Sounds like more business for Sunpower and their solar panels!
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Not really no. Ever been to Oregon? That part of the state doesn't get a lot of regular sun.

In fact, this location makes no sense to me whatsoever. Connectivity out there is going to be expensive, not near a big exchange, the nearest city is really Eugene and that's not very convenient, none of the hydro-power assets that are closer to Portland or any town that lines the Colombia. Am I missing something?
 
Peace

Peace

Cancelled
Apr 1, 2005
19,546
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Space The Only Frontier
herocero said:
Not really no. Ever been to Oregon? That part of the state doesn't get a lot of regular sun.

In fact, this location makes no sense to me whatsoever. Connectivity out there is going to be expensive, not near a big exchange, the nearest city is really Eugene and that's not very convenient, none of the hydro-power assets that are closer to Portland or any town that lines the Colombia. Am I missing something?
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Yes.

You're missing one of the countries biggest wind arrays stretched out all over eastern Oregon and the fact that Apple is using solar panels. This part of Oregon gets more sun than you might think.
 
G

GREYLeader

macrumors newbie
Dec 7, 2011
3
0
herocero said:
Not really no. Ever been to Oregon? That part of the state doesn't get a lot of regular sun.

In fact, this location makes no sense to me whatsoever. Connectivity out there is going to be expensive, not near a big exchange, the nearest city is really Eugene and that's not very convenient, none of the hydro-power assets that are closer to Portland or any town that lines the Colombia. Am I missing something?
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I live in Prineville oregon and we get a nice amount of sun (a lot more than portland does) and as for why they would choose this location is simple the land is very cheap here and they want to compete with facebooks data center
 
C

Chuckyboy

macrumors newbie
Aug 16, 2012
2
0
herocero said:
Not really no. Ever been to Oregon? That part of the state doesn't get a lot of regular sun.

In fact, this location makes no sense to me whatsoever. Connectivity out there is going to be expensive, not near a big exchange, the nearest city is really Eugene and that's not very convenient, none of the hydro-power assets that are closer to Portland or any town that lines the Colombia. Am I missing something?
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I don't think you've spent much time on the Eastern side of the Cascades. Most people think of Portland when they think of Oregon, unfortunately. 2/3 of Oregon is high desert... and I mean dry desert. I believe we get over 300 days of sunshine. I think we've had three cloudy days here the whole summer. Only the left 1/3 of the state (where the majority of the population is) gets a lot of rain. The closest 'large' town is Bend, about 25 minutes away, and they have 80,000 people just in the city limits. The FaceBook Data Center is pretty much next door to Apple's thing. We have a lot of rivers and hydro on this side of the mountains, and the remainder of the power comes from the Bonneville corporation near the Columbia.
 
M

metsjetsfan

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2011
1,387
238
500,000 square feet? Will probably take what maybe 10 -15 people to run it? ;)

DIdn't they say the NC data center only created 50 jobs?
 
shikari89

shikari89

macrumors member
Dec 11, 2010
89
0
Oregon
herocero said:
Not really no. Ever been to Oregon? That part of the state doesn't get a lot of regular sun.

In fact, this location makes no sense to me whatsoever. Connectivity out there is going to be expensive, not near a big exchange, the nearest city is really Eugene and that's not very convenient, none of the hydro-power assets that are closer to Portland or any town that lines the Colombia. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

I live about 25 miles from Prineville, and we certainly do have the most sunny days of anywhere in the state. I think the main reason why apple is going for prineville is property tax exemption. The same reason why Facebook has a data center there. I am not 100% certain though. Its the last place where I would expect to see anything tech industry.
 
J

JHankwitz

macrumors 68000
Oct 31, 2005
1,911
58
Wisconsin
metsjetsfan said:
500,000 square feet? Will probably take what maybe 10 -15 people to run it? ;)

DIdn't they say the NC data center only created 50 jobs?
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And your point is... ????

Colossus, the Forbin Project didn't require anyone to run it. All they should need is an equipment and building maintenance crew.
 
mdriftmeyer

mdriftmeyer

macrumors 68040
Feb 2, 2004
3,810
1,985
Pacific Northwest
herocero said:
Not really no. Ever been to Oregon? That part of the state doesn't get a lot of regular sun.

In fact, this location makes no sense to me whatsoever. Connectivity out there is going to be expensive, not near a big exchange, the nearest city is really Eugene and that's not very convenient, none of the hydro-power assets that are closer to Portland or any town that lines the Colombia. Am I missing something?
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Many times. Ever lived in Central or Eastern Washington? It's very similar topology. Next you're going to claim Spokane is a rainier, colder version of Seattle, or better yet, Ellensburg is wet and rainy most of the year.
 
Lark.Landon

Lark.Landon

macrumors 6502
Aug 15, 2012
275
0
So Cal
I think Apple is capable of making better decisions for itself than anyone on these forums could. They are a multi-billion dollar company and I'm sure they hire consultants when making important business decisions.

I also live near Prineville, and there are over 300 days of sunshine every year in this section of the state.

----------

Forgot to mention..

Chuck Norris said so.
 
O

osaga

macrumors 6502
Jun 11, 2012
454
170
Does anyone know where these companies (apple, amazon, google, etc.) get their Hard Disk Drives? is it Seagate? Western digital?

And what percentage of the HDD manufacturers sales are to data centers? vs. personal computers? 10% 50%? Data center facilities each cost 500 mil to 1 billion and they're popping up all the time it seems. I'd be nice to buy some stock in the companies that are/will make huge sales from the proliferation of cloud computing.
 
Y

york2600

Cancelled
Jul 24, 2002
274
288
Portland, OR
herocero said:
Not really no. Ever been to Oregon? That part of the state doesn't get a lot of regular sun.

In fact, this location makes no sense to me whatsoever. Connectivity out there is going to be expensive, not near a big exchange, the nearest city is really Eugene and that's not very convenient, none of the hydro-power assets that are closer to Portland or any town that lines the Colombia. Am I missing something?
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That part of Oregon is a high desert. Very sunny
 
L

lazard

macrumors 68000
Jul 23, 2012
1,608
818
osaga said:
Does anyone know where these companies (apple, amazon, google, etc.) get their Hard Disk Drives? is it Seagate? Western digital?

And what percentage of the HDD manufacturers sales are to data centers? vs. personal computers? 10% 50%? Data center facilities each cost 500 mil to 1 billion and they're popping up all the time it seems. I'd be nice to buy some stock in the companies that are/will make huge sales from the proliferation of cloud computing.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing Intel...they're one of the biggest players for SSDs for data centers.
 
H

herocero

macrumors regular
Jan 23, 2003
148
127
down on the upside
mdriftmeyer said:
Many times. Ever lived in Central or Eastern Washington? It's very similar topology. Next you're going to claim Spokane is a rainier, colder version of Seattle, or better yet, Ellensburg is wet and rainy most of the year.
Click to expand...

I actually went to college in walla walla, wa. i didn't think the area around Bend was more high desert than Eugene/Portland coastal. I have no problem being wrong, no worries. In fact it happens often. :)

I posted because I didn't understand the position, not that I claimed to be all knowing and all powerful. It was nice to get answers (from others with a better attitude), mainly a) there is a solar opportunity b) already a wind infrastructure c) with facebook's presence it sounds like there might already be infrastructure laid down as far as massive internet connectivity goes (I thought they'd have to run out to SeattleIX, but it looks like they could be more cost conscious and do Portland NWAX or even Eugene OIX if they want dedicated bandwidth to an exchange).

thanks to all for straightening me out.
 
C

Chuckyboy

macrumors newbie
Aug 16, 2012
2
0
herocero said:
I actually went to college in walla walla, wa. i didn't think the area around Bend was more high desert than Eugene/Portland coastal. I have no problem being wrong, no worries. In fact it happens often. :)

I posted because I didn't understand the position, not that I claimed to be all knowing and all powerful. It was nice to get answers (from others with a better attitude), mainly a) there is a solar opportunity b) already a wind infrastructure c) with facebook's presence it sounds like there might already be infrastructure laid down as far as massive internet connectivity goes (I thought they'd have to run out to SeattleIX, but it looks like they could be more cost conscious and do Portland NWAX or even Eugene OIX if they want dedicated bandwidth to an exchange).

thanks to all for straightening me out.
Click to expand...

We'll let it pass this one time. Never question the arid-ness of our climate again or it's on like Donkey Kong.
 
H

herocero

macrumors regular
Jan 23, 2003
148
127
down on the upside
Chuckyboy said:
I don't think you've spent much time on the Eastern side of the Cascades. Most people think of Portland when they think of Oregon, unfortunately. 2/3 of Oregon is high desert... and I mean dry desert. I believe we get over 300 days of sunshine. I think we've had three cloudy days here the whole summer. Only the left 1/3 of the state (where the majority of the population is) gets a lot of rain. The closest 'large' town is Bend, about 25 minutes away, and they have 80,000 people just in the city limits. The FaceBook Data Center is pretty much next door to Apple's thing. We have a lot of rivers and hydro on this side of the mountains, and the remainder of the power comes from the Bonneville corporation near the Columbia.
Click to expand...

i have some vague memory of a friend working near Hood River saying there is talk about taking one or more of the damns down. Am I having a bad memory recall or was that being discussed amongst local authorities?

----------
Chuckyboy said:
We'll let it pass this one time. Never question the arid-ness of our climate again or it's on like Donkey Kong.
Click to expand...

i actually LOL'd on that. thanks.
 
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