Apple's North Carolina Data Center to Focus on Cloud Computing?

[MacRumors]

Cult of Mac posts an interview with Rich Miller, editor of Data Center Knowledge, regarding possible plans for Apple's $1 billion data center due to open in rural Maiden, North Carolina in 2010. At approximately 500,000 square feet and roughly five times the size of the company's existing center in Newark, California, Apple's new data center will be among the largest in the world, sparking questions about what the company plans to do with the capacity.

While public figures closest to the Apple deal acknowledge only that the project will support existing iTunes and MobileMe services, speculation has arisen that Apple may be planning a significant foray into "cloud computing", allowing users to move applications and data to Internet-based locations accessible from any Web-enabled device.

One of the leading theories about the size of the NC project is that Apple is planning future cloud computing services that will require lots of data center storage. Cloud computing is a hot trend, and I'd be surprised if Apple isn't thinking hard - and thinking differently - about cloud computing. Many cloud enthusiasts say that cloud computing will eliminate the need for data centers. In reality, the only thing will change is the owner of the building. All the applications and data that are moving into the cloud will live on servers in brick-and-mortar data centers. The companies that are building the biggest data centers tend to also have the biggest cloud ambitions.

Apple until now has used content delivery networks (CDNs) such as Akamai and Limelight Networks to serve significant amounts of content to users, and some have speculated that the new data center will allow Apple to achieve cost savings by bringing a significant part of that third-party content delivery system in-house. Miller, however, points to Apple's data center's rural location far from the network-dense areas where content delivery centers are typically located as a sign that Apple is pursuing cost and scale efficiency rather than the connectivity most dedicated delivery networks are looking for.

Facebook cited latency to Europe as a key factor in its decision to add data centers in Virginia. Before that, MySpace added a data center in Los Angeles to reduce its reliance on CDNs. But in both cases, those companies sought out Internet hubs where they could connect with dozens of other networks to manage their Internet traffic. You don't get that in rural North Carolina, so Apple seems more focused on cost and scale than on connectivity - which again would suggest a cloud focus.

Article Link: Apple's North Carolina Data Center to Focus on Cloud Computing?

 

[celticpride678]

Hopefully this means better iTunes (maybe) and better Mobile Me. Everything will get faster🙂

 

[twoodcc]

yeah it does sound like cloud computing. but i bet it will be awhile before we as consumers will see anything become of this

 

[talkingfuture]

This seems logical. All the big players must be seriously looking at Cloud Computing for the next few years.

It would be nice if they could use some of that capacity to make iTunes run a little faster though, it seems so slow some days.

 

[robertsammons]

Mac OS 11

Is anyone else thinking Mac OS 11 could be mainly cloud based for Apple's applications, of course its early days but they are running out of numbers 10.6 ?

 

[NT1440]

For anyone that wants a great in depth read into the world of could computing I suggest picking up the current issue of MIT's Technology Review.

I know its the future (ironic since its a better version of past technology) but I'm not really looking forward to cloud computing unless we also have the option of running everything locally the way we do now.

 

[sishaw]

Who knows what wizardry Apple may have up its corporate sleeve? I, for one, would be happy with more storage space per user on Me.com.

 

[QCassidy352]

I don't want all my stuff to live on a cloud... I'm perfectly happy with local storage, even if it means I can't access it except from my home computer. This is one reason I have no interest in google's offerings beyond gmail (and the basic stuff like search, or maps).

 

[GoCubsGo]

More space, more streamlined access, more everything. If this is the case then I think they're on the right track but if this means I can't use local storage I do not care for the idea at all.

 

[-hh]

Connectivity?

An East Coast presence would address latency issues....and such big deals don't ever come without some other little 'things' here and there: don't be surprised to hear that North Carolina runs a couple of very big fat pipes along the I-40 corridor (if not further).

Figure at $16K/mile * 300 miles = $5M ... which is 0.5% of the total cost of the $1B data center.

Doesn't seem like a big deal to me, percentage-wise.


-hh

 

[Doctor Q]

Apple does like to own all the pieces of the pie. Having customers running their hardware and software to access their services in their data center fits their modus operandi.

 

[jav6454]

That and expanded iTunes services

 

[tilman]

I don't get it - not having good connectivity to network backbones is a *bad* choice for cloud computing. Cloud computing is highly interactive, so you need low latencies.

 

[localoid]

I don't get it - not having good connectivity to network backbones is a *bad* choice for cloud computing. Cloud computing is highly interactive, so you need low latencies.

Despite the (clueless) "You don't get that in rural North Carolina" quote in the article, it's not a problem. The Greensboro, NC area offers direct ties to the Tier 1 Internet backbone.

 

[MacFly123]

I don't want all my stuff to live on a cloud... I'm perfectly happy with local storage, even if it means I can't access it except from my home computer. This is one reason I have no interest in google's offerings beyond gmail (and the basic stuff like search, or maps).

More space, more streamlined access, more everything. If this is the case then I think they're on the right track but if this means I can't use local storage I do not care for the idea at all.

I don't want cloud either. I can appreciate certain online features like Back To My Mac, Mobile Me, etc., but putting everything online spells disaster waiting to happen in my opinion. No thanks! 🙄

I can only imagine how crippled the world would be if there are problems now, let alone in the future when virtually everything is a computer and connected. 😱

 

[skate71290]

Cloud Computer - iLife/iWork Online?

Any money on it Apple will copy Microsoft's idea and put iWork and iLife online only to save HDD space? would be good, plus it adds capabilities to the iPhone and iPod Touch to create iWork documents? i hope they do follow through with apps online, sick of iLife wasting 4.5GB of space lol Apple releasing **** loads in the next 2/3 years hard earning cash going to Steve Jobs Master Plan to dominate the world 😱 😉

 

[zombitronic]

I don't want all my stuff to live on a cloud... I'm perfectly happy with local storage, even if it means I can't access it except from my home computer. This is one reason I have no interest in google's offerings beyond gmail (and the basic stuff like search, or maps).

And with the prices of HDDs dropping rapidly, it's even more enticing to have a home server. And here's the thing about could computing...you still need connectivity! This just changes where you connect to, not how you connect. And with the right server set up, you could just securely connect back to your home network. I'd rather keep my data in my house.

 

[Doctor Q]

I can only imagine how crippled the world would be if there are problems now, let alone in the future when virtually everything is a computer and connected. 😱

It's ironic that the Internet (nee ARPANET) was created to keep everything connected when the world was crippled!

 

[NewSc2]

Interesting article, but calm down on the use of bold. I kept on trying to click links to the largest data centers in the world.

 

[dex22]

Meaningless

Cloud computing isn't a technology, as such. It's a culmination of evolution to server farms to where we need to re-visualize the data center. No more. Saying cloud computing doesn't add anything new or remarkable. No new features, no extra performance or resilience. Just a philosophically different approach.

Therefore, I think this story is... twaffle.

(no disrespect to the author)

 

[FastangV6]

Any money on it Apple will copy Microsoft's idea and put iWork and iLife online only to save HDD space? would be good, plus it adds capabilities to the iPhone and iPod Touch to create iWork documents? i hope they do follow through with apps online, sick of iLife wasting 4.5GB of space lol Apple releasing **** loads in the next 2/3 years hard earning cash going to Steve Jobs Master Plan to dominate the world 😱 😉

Take it a step further... What about iLife and iWork '10 being subscription based and all online? Lowers the cost of initial hw/sw, cheaper on the user's end for hw, and less worry about piracy since everyone using it has to pay per month...

 

[Matthew Yohe]

Google landed a data center location in Lenoir, NC, about 30 miles away from the Apple Maiden land.

Level3 has long haul presence running allover Charlotte... I assume others do as well.

Also, cheap power is a big draw.

 

[Chaszmyr]

I think it's pretty obvious Apple is just planning on having the highest Folding@Home score.

 

[GorillaPaws]

I don't want all my stuff to live on a cloud... I'm perfectly happy with local storage, even if it means I can't access it except from my home computer. This is one reason I have no interest in google's offerings beyond gmail (and the basic stuff like search, or maps).

I'm right there with you on this one. I think there's potential for improved syncing, but I like the control of owning/processing my data on my own machine.

I'm hoping this center will be exclusively dedicated to solving the problem of transitioning Steve Jobs' conciseness into machine form to keep his mind going once his body finally gives out... Then everyone can download a personal copy, and have him tell you how pathetically inadequate the quality of your work is. It would be like a vindictive clippy.

 

[El Tuga]

Don't you guys see it? It's simple...Apple will soon offer MobileMe FOR FREE to every Mac, iPhone, iBook (tablet) user!!!

I'm so convinced that that's main drive for the data center! Think of it, it would make so much sense.

Apple will then be able to offer iphones, macs and tablets with email, backup capability, foto and video sharing, website creation (iweb) and storage, online synching between these platforms and even with PCs, all right out of the box!!

The integration, easy of use, simplicity and power it would offer would be a diferentiation factor so huge that would bring in many new hardware clients from windows PCs an other mobile platforms.

This would be the complete solution, possible complemented with permanent 3G access on future Macs and tablets, as with iphones.

And if you think of it, no one else except apple could do this (at least make it so appealing) because only apple creates phones and computers and operating systems for all those devices, and a good cloud service!!

I'm sure this would boost apple's market share in each market to unseen levels. What do you think?