The low humidity in the air and cheap power is actually more valuable than air temperature. Not to mention you'd be surprised how cold it can get in those desert areas.
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First Phase of Apple's New Reno, Nevada Data Center Ready to Open
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The low humidity in the air and cheap power is actually more valuable than air temperature. Not to mention you'd be surprised how cold it can get in those desert areas.
What i HOPE does NOT happen is that Apple starts pruning away all means (e.g. I/O ports) for the user to store data locally, thereby forcing ALL your data on all your Apple devices...into the cloud. And the best way to steer the herd into this new paradigm would be to start removing the I/O ports so you HAVE to use the cloud. Remember at the end of the day, the "cloud" is just someone else's hard drive with a mandated backdoor by the spook agencies to gather information on anyone who becomes "enemy of the state"...(speculation...yes, but plausible....yes)
On the other hand for purchased content (movies/music) I would actually prefer that most (but not all) of it be on someone else's hard drive where I can access it whenever I want (unless the internet is having a bad day, the servers are down, permissions are screwed up, my account has been hacked, etc.).
I just don't want the "cloud" to be the perceived solution for ALL my data. I want to have options and be in control of what goes on the cloud and what does not.
On the other hand for purchased content (movies/music) I would actually prefer that most (but not all) of it be on someone else's hard drive where I can access it whenever I want (unless the internet is having a bad day, the servers are down, permissions are screwed up, my account has been hacked, etc.).
I just don't want the "cloud" to be the perceived solution for ALL my data. I want to have options and be in control of what goes on the cloud and what does not.
Yeah, you definitely want form over function for a building that is out of sight... sigh...
I think Mankind has evolved enough to figure out how to insulate a building and build air cooling machines.
It's definitely a gamble to assume Apple has aquired this sacred knowledge, but we will see if this facility errupts in flames sooner rather than later.
Besides the stolen Alien technology is located in a different base, so there's that.
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Oh noes, then you would have to... buy a different brand of computer. Like maybe a Google Chromebook, err wait. The horror!
Anyone have stats comparing Apple's data center's to Google or Facebook? I'd be interesting in seeing some comparisons.
They either have very good air conditioning systems or liquid cooling for their datacenter. The power they get from the sun can also power the equipment what cools down the water or drives the conditioning devices. The building is probably heavily insulated, too. Should be no problem at all.
Depends on altitude as well, and the really rhot parts of the year are relatively short. And the low humidity means that super-cheap evaporative cooling can be used most of the time.
Plot the heliocentric and geocentric relationship of Apple's existing and proposed solar fields and you will find the loci of Steve Job's universe (iCloud).
He's calling to us.
He's calling to us.
That's what I was thinking... If it takes an air conditioner the size of a sea container to keep 5 Engine Dyno's cool, what does a giant data center in the middle of the desert require for cooling!
The computer part of the 'data center' is probably underground. The people part is probably where you see the building. It's VERY cool in a desert underground.
Why put it in a desert? You want it in the MIDDLE of where you are transferring data. For example, should I put a data center in downtown Dallas when I want to reach Denver and Los Angeles as well? No. I'd put it in the middle of the triangle, out in the desert.
LOL, and what kind of job would one likely have at an Apple data center? Watching blinking lights and replacing failed components? Exciting ...
Yeah other companies like Microsoft and Goodle are building data centers where it is cold to save on electricity. Building in the desert seems counter intuitive until you factor in solar power.
Then it seems like a cool idea.
I also thought a data center should be in Iowa or Nebraska central to either coast.
It's looks like the nevada DC is just for the West coast.
And as someone else mentioned or at least hinted at, once the sun goes down, the temps drop quickly. If the cooling costs can be time shifted (eg: heat is transferred to another medium during the day which then naturally cools during the night), then the cooling could actually be quite cheap.
Even though I live in the Southern part of the state I think you are a little misinformed about what the geography of Reno and the surrounding area really looks like.
You were saying....
Excellent points. I live in rural-ass America. The building just looks like one of our local feed stores.
It must be Apple's "Siberia" - a repository for misbehaving employees. The mere threat of ending up here should increase productivity and innovation by at least 50%
Every company has "unsightly" parts of the operation that keep the show running. For most companies, it's the server closet or room that has cables strewn all over the place. Apple stuck one of their more unsightly parts of the operation out in the middle of nowhere.
I feel bad for the person that was sent out to the middle of nowhere with a big lens and one assignment: drive through the desert until you find a nondescript warehouse-type building, photograph it, then turn around and drive back to civilization.
I feel bad for the person that was sent out to the middle of nowhere with a big lens and one assignment: drive through the desert until you find a nondescript warehouse-type building, photograph it, then turn around and drive back to civilization.
I wonder why they dont' build into the ground or into a mountain and use a cooling system that way.
You, along with me, will be in the minority in the coming years.
It will be 'easier' for someone to purchase gigs of data that is backed up on the cloud to store, for example, personal pictures. A normal consumer does not want to have to worry about purchasing a drive to store pictures on, a backup drive, do the backups routinely, store one offsite in case of a fire, etc. It's much 'easier' to use the cloud, and that will drive the 95% of the masses to use the cloud.
The 5% of us who care about privacy, and understand how backups work and computers work, will use their own methods. Of course, it will get harder and harder as time goes on. Eventually, we'll have to 'jailbreak' our PCs to get this functionality!