Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple's Massive North Carolina Data Center Ready By End of Year
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Maybe my Mobile Me account will work now
Oh Please, Please!!! This service has been ignored by Apple so far and has way to many mysterious outages.
Quebec has been trying to separate from Canada for more than 30 years and you have to speak French to work there. Sending your kids to English schools is forbidden.
Missing Data Center
If you would have followed all the proceedings leading up to the selection of this location over a year ago you would have noticed all the givebacks the State and community were offering up to draw Apple to their location and the enegy costs in that part of the country are very cheap compared to the Northeast and their current location in California. Also note this is not the 60's where computers would melt a glacier overnight and as Intel improves their designs the servers become more energy efficient.
On another note I thought I'd go looking into how the Data Center is progressing from Google Earth but apparently Apple can not only hide new products and software features but to hide a whole data center that's impressive. All that is visible off Startown Road is the access road to the new facility the actual site location is hidden by a several year old Sat. Photo. Check it out.
Apple, Inc, 6081 Startown Road, Maiden, NC 28650-8772
Latitude: 35°35'20.30"N
Longitude: 81°15'34.52"W
Also the Address listed comes up on the wrong side of the divided highway but the Co-ordinates point to the middle of where the data center should be.
If you would have followed all the proceedings leading up to the selection of this location over a year ago you would have noticed all the givebacks the State and community were offering up to draw Apple to their location and the enegy costs in that part of the country are very cheap compared to the Northeast and their current location in California. Also note this is not the 60's where computers would melt a glacier overnight and as Intel improves their designs the servers become more energy efficient.
On another note I thought I'd go looking into how the Data Center is progressing from Google Earth but apparently Apple can not only hide new products and software features but to hide a whole data center that's impressive. All that is visible off Startown Road is the access road to the new facility the actual site location is hidden by a several year old Sat. Photo. Check it out.
Apple, Inc, 6081 Startown Road, Maiden, NC 28650-8772
Latitude: 35°35'20.30"N
Longitude: 81°15'34.52"W
Also the Address listed comes up on the wrong side of the divided highway but the Co-ordinates point to the middle of where the data center should be.
It's more about:
- cost of power
- cost of land
- taxes of various kinds
- good internet
- not being outside of US for various tax and other reasons
Those things all equally matter. NC has cheap land, low taxes, and cheap power. And it's not that hot near Hickory, NC.
I'd say that looks like a humongous boondogle except that it's an Apple project. Hoping Apple can make some $'s from it.................. bet they will.
Will be interesting to see how long it takes Apple to persuade the content providers to team with Apple.
cheers to the longs
JohnG
Will be interesting to see how long it takes Apple to persuade the content providers to team with Apple.
cheers to the longs
JohnG
Technically you are partially right. Skynet didn't run exclusively on dedicated servers, but some of the computers it infected were servers. Who is to say what's a server in this case? It really is the software that makes it server, not the hardware. So the PC's infected by skynet became servers of the larger skynet domain
Climate and cooling power draw aren't the only criteria in selecting a datacenter.. Cost of land, cost of local power, local labor availability and costs, availability of connectivity and redundant power grid are all more important than the average climate temperature. You gotta be crazy if you think Iceland is a cost effective place to run a global datacenter facility.
In-sourcing...
To point out the obvious, this datacenter is probably nothing more than Apple deciding they can save some money and extend stevejobcontrol over the servers that they currently have hosted at existing datacenters.
Think about it: Apple has gone from zero to big leagues on the Internet in the last ten years, and this is the first major construction they have done. Where do you think all their gear is at now? It's in other people's datacenters.
This is just an in-sourcing project, not the lynchpin of some major expansion.
To point out the obvious, this datacenter is probably nothing more than Apple deciding they can save some money and extend stevejobcontrol over the servers that they currently have hosted at existing datacenters.
Think about it: Apple has gone from zero to big leagues on the Internet in the last ten years, and this is the first major construction they have done. Where do you think all their gear is at now? It's in other people's datacenters.
This is just an in-sourcing project, not the lynchpin of some major expansion.
You need to read up on television tech. Specifically analog tuners, ntsc, gamma, interlacing, up/down conversions, and digital tuners.
I have no doubt Apple would make a great display. But it's not just a big cinema display by any means.
One thing I would look forward to - their web integration and interface. Now that TVs are becoming internet devices, Apple would have a leg up.
One would hope that the answer is that iTunes is no longer part of the process.
Most other phone companies provide sync services that work with both phones and computers that sync over the internet or local network without some stupid bloatware like iTunes and a USB cable.
For instance, Nokia has their Ovi service which syncs contacts, calendar entries, todo, browser bookmarks, map location bookmarks as well as providing cloud storage of mail, files, pictures, music and web app access to all of them. It syncs over the air, wifi, via bluetooth or USB. It doesn't matter what the connection is. On my Mac I just have a menubar app like iSync used to be back in the OSX 10.2 days or I can sync manually on the phone too or just let it happen automatically.
That's sounds great doesn't it? The reality is it's a bit clunky still and I'd expect Apple to do better. Then again, it has less outages than either Google or MobileMe in my experience and the 'Files' service is less of a CPU hog than DropBox and remote access works better than BackToMyMac.
At one point Apple had a really good sync service for phones and Macs with iSync and SyncServices but they've left it to wither on the vine favouring a lowest common denominator in iTunes so that they don't have to port SyncServices to Windows seemingly. They've also not been updating iSync phone profiles for years although some phone manufacturers and 3rd parties do it for them.
I would hope that Apple are going to reinstate SyncServices to it's rightful place as the primary technology for Sync that it once was, turn MobileMe into Ovi, make it free like Ovi and turn iTunes into just a media player like it should be once more.
I bet you're right that much of it's under ground. I work for a HUGE bank in a building that was a former data center...an unassuming glass low rise...and a massive complex below grade. Entering some areas is like the opening sequence from Get Smart.
Make it green
I would also add, it looks like it takes up a lot of square footage. If they built it as a 10 story building the footprint could be reduced.
I also find it sad, it appears to not have solar panels on the roof. Large flat buildings like this should be *required* to install solar to do something useful with their roofs and offset their carbon use. And/or it should be painted white, or have a green/grass roof. Sprawling buildings must be made efficient.
I'll reserve judgement because it's not done and maybe solar panels have not arrived to install yet. But I also am going to guess that NC does not have many green initiatives or building ordinances like CA does.
I would also add, it looks like it takes up a lot of square footage. If they built it as a 10 story building the footprint could be reduced.
I also find it sad, it appears to not have solar panels on the roof. Large flat buildings like this should be *required* to install solar to do something useful with their roofs and offset their carbon use. And/or it should be painted white, or have a green/grass roof. Sprawling buildings must be made efficient.
I'll reserve judgement because it's not done and maybe solar panels have not arrived to install yet. But I also am going to guess that NC does not have many green initiatives or building ordinances like CA does.
Personally, I've found Apple's pricing to be very reasonable, as long as you don't want 'free'. I've discovered that 'free' has way too many strings attached--as well as malware.
I readed all comments to no avail, so I have to ask this:
anyone have the google maps link of the datacenter?
Here are some videos of it: https://www.macrumors.com/2010/02/22/aerial-footage-of-apples-north-carolina-data-center/
If you watch the videos, it appears that it's located west of Maiden, NC, on Startown Road near the freeway interchange.
I strongly recommend you study the area before you make such comments. The majority of the energy generated in the southeast is either hydroelectric or nuclear. Yes, in more heavily populated areas (such as eastern Virginia, Maryland, etc...) coal is one of the primary sources of energy, but North Carolina's population doesn't come close to the density found in even Pennsylvania. As such, their generation needs aren't as great and, like the TVA, they are able to sell excess energy to other states.
North Carolina is not a hick, country state, though you might want to believe so. They are an emerging power in technology because of the energy availability, the costs of living, the lower taxes. It only makes economical sense to choose a place that's less expensive across the board. The house I live in now--in Maryland--would have cost from two-thirds to half as much as I paid. Were it not for other reasons, I'd move down there myself and apply for work with Apple.
They'd cost twice as much as everybody elses TVs,
require three Apple adapters to work properly,
and only show Steve approved content from iTunes.