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Apple Considering Building Huge New Data Center in Oregon

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Apr 12, 2001
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OregonLive.com reports that Apple is currently deciding whether to commit to building a major new data center in Prineville, Oregon that would complement its newly-opened facility in Maiden, North Carolina. Apple currently has an option to purchase 160 acres of land for the potential Prineville data center near a recently-opened Facebook data center, and Apple has until the end of this month to exercise that option or allow it to expire.
The world's largest tech company is nearing a decision on whether to build a large data center in Prineville, a quarter mile south of the Facebook server farm that opened earlier this year, according to two people with direct knowledge of Apple's plans.

...

Those familiar with the discussions say that Apple's Oregon plans have been in flux while it awaited word on whether there would be adequate electricity transmission in Prineville to meet its needs.

With transmission capacity expanding and other companies now looking elsewhere, a door opened for Apple.
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Apple's project, codenamed "Maverick", is said to initially include a 31-megawatt data center, with plenty of land available for future expansion should the need arise and electricity capacity for the area prove sufficient. Apple's electricity demand for its North Carolina has not been disclosed, but some sources have estimated it in the range of 100 megawatts.

facebook_oregon_data_center.jpg



Facebook's data center in Prineville, Oregon​
Apple has been working hard to expand its data center capacity to handle iCloud and other services, having invested $1 billion in the North Carolina center and revealing a master plan that could see the size of the facility double in the future. Apple also maintains a smaller data center in Newark, California and has been building out minor additional capacity in Santa Clara, California near its corporate headquarters in Cupertino.

Data center industry observers have been expecting Apple to continue building out West Coast data center capacity, as most large tech companies seek to locate major facilities along each coast of the United States to provide redundancy and optimize performance.

Article Link: Apple Considering Building Huge New Data Center in Oregon
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/12/03/apple-considering-building-huge-new-data-center-in-oregon/
Out of curiosity.. does anyone have an idea on what kind of a data storage capacity roughly one of these data centers is capable of having ?
 
Menopause said:
Out of curiosity.. does anyone have an idea on what kind of a data storage capacity roughly one of these data centers is capable of having ?
Click to expand...

Well over an exabyte for raw storage ...but mostly a lot of the "storage" is RAIDed and/or backed up and redundant. So actual "data" that you and I may download (if we had the option to download, say, every song on iTunes) is probably 1/5th to 1/10th what the actual total storage is.

It's a bit hard to calculate without any physical characteristics. It's pretty easy, however, to count drives....if each 1TB SATA drive was 5" by 7" by 2" thick, you could figure out how many would fit in, say, a 10x10 foot room...but then you need to take into consideration electricity, # of outlets available, heat, etc.

Per Wikipedia: As of 2011, no storage system has achieved one zettabyte of information. The combined space of all computer hard drives in the world does not amount to even one yottabyte, but was estimated at approximately 160 exabytes in 2006.[1] As of 2009, the entire Internet was estimated to contain close to 500 exabytes.
 
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Why don't they build one outside of the US, in order to guarantee a better iCloud service for international customers?
 
If Apple buys and creates such a datacenter (this is all rumor) then I would assume Apple is really trying to increase iCloud and/or new tv programming.

Personally I don't think iCloud is as popular as Apple wants it to be...I haven't touched it at all...not really a believer in "owning" stuff that I can't touch...such as cds, dvds, or books. Not to mention the glitches that may go with it "oh darn, iCloud is slow today...oh darn, iCloud is asking me to accept the License Agreement for the 3rd time this week...oh darn, iCloud says my account has a problem...oh darn, iCloud says I didn't pay my bill..."

Some day. Some day.

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zin said:
Why don't they build one outside of the US, in order to guarantee a better iCloud service for international customers?
Click to expand...

"Because the Cloud is universal! The cloud has no boundaries! It's euphoria! Believe everything we say!"

Technically the physical boundaries should not have a difference in "cloud" stuff since cloud=internet. But in reality, each country has it's own pipe, and then that pipe is divided out however the government and businesses choose. Just like here in the USA...USA doesn't even have the best internet experience as far as speeds.

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Peace said:
This would be great for Oregon. We have lots of electricity. Only problem is it's sold to California.
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It's practically 2012...maybe Apple should lead by example and build some killer solar panel farm or wind energy to HELP or completely power this place? Would be terrific PR for Apple, would be much cheaper over time, and might get Apple some tax breaks or other stuff down the road.

I don't know why more companies don't build in cold places like Alaska or Maine or Chicago...open the darn windows from Nov-May and get free air conditioning which is a HUGE electricity eater.
 
Absolutely expand your cloud services. Get iCloud closer to DropBox for documents, etc. If you want to be the leader in consumer electronics you need to have this ubiquity thing solved.
 
Headline six months from now:

Microsoft Considering Building Huge New Data Center in Oregon, Next To Apple's Data Center, Next To Facebook's Data Center.

Microsoft has no plans to use their data center. But, since Facebook and Apple built them, Microsoft felt that it was necessary.
 
ericinboston said:
Well over an exabyte for raw storage ...but mostly a lot of the "storage" is RAIDed and/or backed up and redundant. So actual "data" that you and I may download (if we had the option to download, say, every song on iTunes) is probably 1/5th to 1/10th what the actual total storage is.

It's a bit hard to calculate without any physical characteristics. It's pretty easy, however, to count drives....if each 1TB SATA drive was 5" by 7" by 2" thick, you could figure out how many would fit in, say, a 10x10 foot room...but then you need to take into consideration electricity, # of outlets available, heat, etc.

Per Wikipedia: As of 2011, no storage system has achieved one zettabyte of information. The combined space of all computer hard drives in the world does not amount to even one yottabyte, but was estimated at approximately 160 exabytes in 2006.[1] As of 2009, the entire Internet was estimated to contain close to 500 exabytes.
Click to expand...

Very interesting information. Thanks :D
 
ericinboston said:
Personally I don't think iCloud is as popular as Apple wants it to be...I haven't touched it at all...not really a believer in "owning" stuff that I can't touch...such as cds, dvds, or books. Not to mention the glitches that may go with it "oh darn, iCloud is slow today...oh darn, iCloud is asking me to accept the License Agreement for the 3rd time this week...oh darn, iCloud says my account has a problem...oh darn, iCloud says I didn't pay my bill..."
Click to expand...


Your only saving grace in that paragraph was starting it with "Personally".
 
marcusj0015 said:
Why are those HUGE walls in front of the data center?
Click to expand...

part of data center design and specifications demands that the facilities be protected from projectiles caused from high winds, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc. For high up-time data centers (Tier 3 & 4) they sometimes build big walls to meet those specs.

Sometime, you'll also see other stuff, like boulders in front or around the building to act as walls to prevent the disgruntled worker from driving a truck through the front doors (which is apparently is not rare).

.
 
Self Powered

Maybe they will do in Oregon what they are planning to do for the "spaceship campus" in Cupertino, build a power supply of their own, with back up from the grid if needed.
 
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