I had just been reading an insurance policy before I wrote that, so I think thats where that phrase came from. Sorry if it offended you. And just so you are aware, I have 2 advanced science degrees, so yeah I'm all good on science. But thanks for checking.
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Apple Planning New Server Farm in North Carolina
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I had just been reading an insurance policy before I wrote that, so I think thats where that phrase came from. Sorry if it offended you. And just so you are aware, I have 2 advanced science degrees, so yeah I'm all good on science. But thanks for checking.
I'm sure they'll be hiring system engineers for this facility... Perhaps I've got a job with Apple in my future.
California has earthquakes, wildfires, strict environmental laws to contend with, and a high cost of living and doing business. NC has none of that, and designing a building to be a hurricane proof is a piece of cake compared to making it earthquake or wildfire proof.
And, very important for a mega-datacenter - California has a very high cost of electricity.
(North Carolina's residential rate is less than 8¢ per KWH. Here in Silicon Valley the residential rate goes as high as 44¢ depending on use (you pay more per KWH as your total usage goes up).)
That would be a bad idea. The evil being latency due to distance and there is nothing that can be done if you try a centralized approach. Light can only travel so fast and the farther you are away the slower the throughput will be. You can modify the TCP settings to assist in better throughput, but those settings need to be made on both sides; so not very feasible.
This is where content caching companies like Akamai come in; they have servers close to the enduser to decrease latency due to distance and increase the throughput. Read RFC1323.
Tax Break?
Just a thought...why should a good liberal company like Apple decide on a location for a new server farm based upon a tax break? Seriously...Apple has ultra-lib, vegan Steve Jobs as CEO and ultra-lib, environmentalist Al Gore on the Board or Directors...should they not be looking for the place where they can pay the highest taxes possible so they can contribute to the common good? Maybe New York would have been a better place for them.
Just a thought...why should a good liberal company like Apple decide on a location for a new server farm based upon a tax break? Seriously...Apple has ultra-lib, vegan Steve Jobs as CEO and ultra-lib, environmentalist Al Gore on the Board or Directors...should they not be looking for the place where they can pay the highest taxes possible so they can contribute to the common good? Maybe New York would have been a better place for them.
I love how both meanings of that acronym are relevant in this context.
I thought the same thing.
Does anyone know if Apple has commented on this? As far as I can tell this is what North Carolina government wants, but I can't find a comment from Apple saying they are actually doing this.
EDIT - I re-read the newspaper article. Apple "declined to comment" on the report.
EDIT - I re-read the newspaper article. Apple "declined to comment" on the report.
I love how both meanings of that acronym are relevant in this context.
LOL - I did not even catch that.
I've heard that Apple is converting to iPod Touch for it's in store check out systems using new software, the dock connector for a credit card swipe, and a wifi connection to the stores network. Has this happened yet? I have not been in a store in a while. I'm sure they want to move off the current device.
This rumor is poorly written...from the typos "to" instead of "for" to the lack of info.
Does anyone have any idea:
1)Why the government needs a server farm?
2)why the government would choose Apple (over Sun or HP or IBM or Dell or...)
3)What application this server farm is supposed to power? Or, is the government just asking Apple to "open up shop" in NC and therefore employ 50-100 people to run the building/farm therefore creating jobs?
4)Why the government would give such a huge tax break instead of just buying the hardware/service outright at a government-mandated bid (assuming even if they NEED Apple software like the OS)? Could be just a shell game "we'll let you NOT pay us millions in taxes while you give us millions in free "services")
-Eric
Does anyone have any idea:
1)Why the government needs a server farm?
2)why the government would choose Apple (over Sun or HP or IBM or Dell or...)
3)What application this server farm is supposed to power? Or, is the government just asking Apple to "open up shop" in NC and therefore employ 50-100 people to run the building/farm therefore creating jobs?
4)Why the government would give such a huge tax break instead of just buying the hardware/service outright at a government-mandated bid (assuming even if they NEED Apple software like the OS)? Could be just a shell game "we'll let you NOT pay us millions in taxes while you give us millions in free "services")
-Eric
Hey Eric.
What I got from the Charlotte Observer article is that NC want Apple to open shop in NC. Apple would build their own data center to power Apples business. I'm not sure if Apple has commented on this so who knows if it will come to pass.
EDIT - I re-read the newspaper article. Apple "declined to comment"
But where is that shiny new server farm in Europe? Hell the MobileMe and iTunes response time/bandwidth are so lousy it almost a joke. iDisk is just unusable because you get like 40 KiB/s upload if you're lucky. Think download is better, but hey how should I know since I've never really managed to upload anything "large".
Apple, go invest some of those 29 billion kazillion dollars you got there in your small jeans pockets and get a server farm here in Europe. It is needed, and is probably cheeper than over there in the US since here in Europe we actually got something called bandwidth
Apple, go invest some of those 29 billion kazillion dollars you got there in your small jeans pockets and get a server farm here in Europe. It is needed, and is probably cheeper than over there in the US since here in Europe we actually got something called bandwidth
I'm sure they'll be hiring system engineers for this facility... Perhaps I've got a job with Apple in my future.
I thought the same thing when I read the article.
This is more mobile me stuff plus to support new video sharing, not conferving, but silly sharing. I would much rather have media enabled phones.
Like sprints htc which plays cnn, fix sports plus newer phones with flash. But since iTunes rentals exist we will never see free streaming in the iPhone.
Like sprints htc which plays cnn, fix sports plus newer phones with flash. But since iTunes rentals exist we will never see free streaming in the iPhone.
The Charlotte Observer reports that North Carolina lawmakers are working on special legislation to give Apple, Inc a multi-million dollar tax break in order to entice the company to build an East Coast server farm to the state. Apple is identified as the company in question by a state official with knowledge of the recruitment efforts. The plan would target $1 billion in investments over the next 9 years which could be easily covered by Apple's nearly $29 billion in cash reserves.
While Apple makes the bulk of its income through hardware sales, the company has increasingly been positioning itself as a services company that require large server farms to support. Apple's iTunes service, of course, is likely the most demanding, but Apple has also worked to expand their MobileMe web services over this past year. The MobileMe launch was marred by outages and poor performance during the initial launch demonstrating the importance of the underlying infrastructure.
There have been reports that Apple may further expand their online services in the future with the possibility of web versions of some of their existing applications.
Article Link: Apple Planning New Server Farm in North Carolina
Good liberal company? You must be joking... I love Apple, but there is nothing liberal about a benevolent dictatorship whose products bring in margins that would make even the most steadfast capitalist blush.
Steve is a business man through and through. Al Gore is on the board of directors to appease the environmentalist. Plus, not even liberals like paying high taxes... That is for the rest of us. Look at how many of them *forget* to pay their taxes.
But I digress from the topic. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Server farms v.2.0
The rolling hills of a proposed server farm in Iceland from Data Islandia designed by architect Robert Örn Arnarson.
The rolling hills of a proposed server farm in Iceland from Data Islandia designed by architect Robert Örn Arnarson.
Didn't Google do this last year?
I might be wrong, and haven't read through this whole thread, but didn't Google put in (or at least consider putting in) a big server farm in the NC area? Could they be tied together somehow?
I might be wrong, and haven't read through this whole thread, but didn't Google put in (or at least consider putting in) a big server farm in the NC area? Could they be tied together somehow?
This could certainly have very interesting results. I look forward to hearing what Apple is planning to do with the server farm, and also very happy to see this as this will be a boost to the economy. Anytime a company opens up a new facility like that there are tons of jobs that are needed, from Janitors to grounds keepers all the way up to system engineers.
Science (which isn't to be confused with the scientific method or scientism) is not much more than Latin for knowledge.
So it seems in lacking the science of the meaning of the common enough phrase "Act of God", you opted for a literalist interpretation and subsequently prejudged and shamed.
Who says that fundamentalist thumping is the sole domain of the religious...and that's a rhetorical question.