Apple's $1 Billion Data Center Mystery 244
1sockchuck writes "One of year's most tantalizing technology secrets involves Apple's $1 billion investment in a new data center in North Carolina. Is it the Death Star in Apple's plan for galactic domination? Some Apple watchers predict it will be the hub for a 21st century broadcasting network. Other enthusiasts are doing flyovers to film videos of the 500,000 square foot facility. There's also an unofficial FAQ about the new data center. What is Apple up to with this huge facility?"
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Other enthusiasts are doing flyovers to film videos of the 500,000 square foot facility.
Jesus Christ on a crutch... is there anything Apple fanbois *won't* do?
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Calm and measured reactions to rumors?
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Yes, because as a fan a sane reaction to a report is arranging a flyover and aerial photography of the site involved... really it is, please keep telling yourself that.
Perfectly sane if you are a financial analyst or trading/holding a bunch of AAPL and want to get the scoop on the next product offering... or if you are a real estate agent trying to get some publicity.
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By far, the biggest whiners online are those who spend all day going on about Open Source this, shitty Nokia OS that, and the Android crowd. I dont hold it against them, but still we complain of "Apple fanboys", when I think
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Its finally come, they are building the iChurch...
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I know it's always tempting (and easy) to fire off a quick anti-Apple slam, but...Jesus Christ on a crutch...couldn't you take a minute to learn the source of the video? It took me 10 seconds to find out that it was made by a local real estate agent. Somebody who quite probably has a financial interest in learning more about a billion-dollar Apple data center being built in his town. Hardly an "Apple fanboi."
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Please keep your facts out their speculation and karma whoring ;) Personally, I'm glad to see them build the data center, but then again, I live nearby and just happy to see the jobs. I wouldn't care if it was Google, Apple, IBM or Yahoo doing the building. We still have over 10% statewide unemployment here.
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I know plenty of people who worked at Dell, (I live in Lexington now). They gave back all the money, but the real loss was all the infrastructure that was built for them. Dell never did live up to their promises, instead moving everything to Mexico.
The data center, however, doesn't have all that infrastructure paid for by tax dollars, so it is actually a much lower risk for taxpayers. It is also a bit less likely to get moved simply because they didn't put it here because of cheap labor, but because of l
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But at least you're not a bitter person.
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You don't understand real estate agencies, they exist solely to wall off information and make you go through them to get it. The last thing they want is customers shopping for a home by driving around with an iPad and an on-line listing service.
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Top Ten Things Fanbois WON'T do (Score:2, Troll)
is there anything Apple fanbois *won't* do?
Ah, a challenge! Let me think, what won't apple fanbois do?
My top ten list of things apple fanbois won't do:
10) Mix plaid and polka dots.
9) Take a calculus class
8) Pay too much for that muffler.
7) Pay anything for that music.
6) Drink fucking Merlot.
5) Listen to Country and Western music in a non-ironic way.
4) Move to a flyover state.
3) Charge a reasonable rate for their "Graphic Design" skills
2) Tip a waiter
And the number one thing apple fanbois won't do?
1) Date a member of the opposite sex.
Badump-CHA! Than
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Unashamed apple fan here. Your list is complete and utter rubbish.
10) Anyone who isn't blind wouldn't mix those. Or wear them at all, for that matter.
9) Took, and passed, three of them. Also, a course in differential equations, another in partial differential equations, and several statistics courses.
8) I do most of the work on my cars, and all the work on my motorcycle. Parts costs are actually pretty low; what people get screwed on is shop labor fees.
7) Internet radio. Why pay for or maintain you
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Jesus had a sense of humor, get over it.
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Gtall: Prove it.
A.C.: Have fun in hell then.
Bad Analogy? (Score:3, Funny)
Personally, I think it's the computational center for Steve's worldwide reality distortion field. You need to really crunch the data to figure out how to bend people to your will.
Re:Bad Analogy? (Score:5, Funny)
Apple has better people working for them, though. I mean, as far as design flaws go, "sometimes left-handed folks get dropped calls" is a lot better than "womprat-sized hole that automatically destroys entire facility when fired into." If Apple built the Death Star, the Rebels would have been defeated but Vader couldn't have called the Emperor to tell him about it.
Depends... (Score:2)
How many Bothans have died to bring us this information?
Walled garden (Score:3)
They listened and now you got a real walled garden to go to and be protected by Supreme Commander Jobs.
The real reason (Score:5, Funny)
They're trying to build a simulator for Steve Jobs ego before he kicks the bucket.
Everyone knows what they're building... (Score:3)
LOL Of course not, there's no simulator big enough for that!
But joking aside, I've been keeping up on this for a fair while, and amongst the more credible insiders, a lot of information has been released...
Steve Jobs is designing a new kind of Apple training facility, initially for a few people who work for Apple, but eventually it will be opened to certain segments of the public.
It's supposed to be revolutionary. Someone said it's the final solution to all our training problems. The original idea was devel
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"Better sequencing every living being's ADN"
Do too much LDS in the sixties?
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"What in the world do the mormons have to do with it?"
Turn in your geek card, and report for remedial education [imdb.com].
Secret video of center's interior (Score:5, Funny)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8 [youtube.com]
.
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The center's purpose isn't clear, but it apparently sports many catwalks, large video displays, and exercise facilities.
You're right, the purpose of the facility is usability and acceptance testing for their new OS. Here's some footage from inside:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYN3_EA1XM8&feature=related [youtube.com]
Forecast: Clouds (Score:2)
No, not really. They just bought some acreage to grow Macintosh, of course. Apple is officially going in to the juice business.
I just do not understand... (Score:5, Funny)
why they need to build such a huge building to hold a cloud. Surely they could have condensed it?
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The building is just the entrance.... (Score:2)
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That's precisely why they needed the huge building, actually - the internal volume has to be large enough for clouds to form.
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everyone knows the cloud is in the sky. you're a bozo...
Such a mystery (Score:2)
I mean, what could a large tech company want with a huge data center?
The mind just boggles at the thought of a huge company that has and uses an enormous amount of data actually wanting a place for it.
Next you'll tell me that Microsoft has huge data centers.
Re:Such a mystery (Score:4, Funny)
I can't wait until opening day! (Score:2)
Black Mesa (Score:3)
Pinky. (Score:5, Funny)
Same thing we do every night Pinky, try to take over the world!
It's a Detention facility ... (Score:4, Funny)
...for employees who leak info...
Not a Data Center at all (Score:2)
Steve Jobs is using it as a warehouse to store his massive shuriken collection. As you recall, he threw an enormous shit fit when Tokyo airport security wouldn't allow him to board his own private jet with a couple particularly rare specimens.
His raging tantrum over a couple throwing stars doesn't seem so childish now does it?
Dirt Racin' Track? (Score:2)
In the unofficial FAQ, is that a dirt racin' track in the background of the picture?
After a few decades in the telecom industry, I've seen remote pops having all kinds of crazy neighbors. It kind of makes sense, its not as if a bunch of hardware would contain about the noise, and most of the time, there would certainly be plenty of parking... Not many other facilities would want to locate next to a racetrack, beyond the obvious tow truck, autoparts and hotel types.
High Cost is E A S Y (Score:2)
The high cost is easy to explain -- they're going to fill it with Apple Macs rather than normal 1U servers. 10x cost -- after all, they _ARE_ Apple :)
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The high cost is easy to explain -- they're going to fill it with Apple Macs rather than normal 1U servers. 10x cost -- after all, they _ARE_ Apple :)
Actually, Macs probably don't cost Apple very much at all...
Listed but not yet seen on Google Maps (Score:3)
Computers! More Computers! (Score:2)
Maybe they're going to put computers in it? Like lots and lots of them?
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Actually just 1 very special computer.
A little OT but... (Score:2)
Given who we're talking about (Score:5, Funny)
Apple employees: I have some distressing news about the company Retirement Plan...
The real question: (Score:4, Interesting)
Are they actually taking their own risible advice, and packing the place floor-to-ceiling with the "3 mac-pros-per-12U-shelf-what-is-this-'LOM Card'-you-speak-of?" server configuration?
Will this facility be the world's largest collection of hackentoshes? Is this going to be the most humiliating "Get The Facts" microsoft ever gets to do? Will somebody actualy be running Darwin for reasons other than perverse experimentation?
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Are they actually taking their own risible advice, and packing the place floor-to-ceiling with the "3 mac-pros-per-12U-shelf-what-is-this-'LOM Card'-you-speak-of?" server configuration?
No. It will be stuffed floor to ceiling with Mac Airs and old, version I AppleTVs. This will result in such a concentration of Mac Awesomness that it will result in the Singularity.
Unfortunately, since it will happen in North Carolina, no one will take notice of it for a couple of decades.
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Re:The real question: (Score:5, Informative)
Here are some factoids gleaned from Apple’s job postings:
- Apple says that its “data center environment consists of MacOS X, IBM/AIX, Linux and SUN/Solaris systems.”
- The Maiden facility will have a “heavy emphasis” on high availability technologies, including IBM’s HACMP and HAGEO solutions for high-availability clusters, Veritas Cluster Server, and Oracle’s DataGuard and Real Application Clusters.
- Job candidates are also asked to be familiar with storage systems using IBM, NetApp and Data Domain, and data warehousing systems from Teradata.
- Networking positions require a familiarity with Brocade and Qlogic switches.
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Now that they've taken the Xserve out back and given it the 'ol' yeller treatment', what exactly is humming away in that fancy new datacenter of theirs?
Dells. Lots and lots of Dells.
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It's obvious (Score:2)
Apple is trying to construct a structure large enough to contain Steve Jobs' ego. I predict failure.
Decoy (Score:2)
Heh, they have everyone snookered into trying to figure this place out so they won't be trying to get the inside scoop on the latest iPad/iPhone/iwhatever device update. They also have all of the Apple engineers sequestered until July.
Apple Broadcast Network back last June (Score:2)
You guys and your delusions of grandeur (Score:2)
Do you guys think iTunes downloads, Genius calculations, MobileMe, AppStores, GameCenter and whatnot all just exist for free? I wouldn't be half surprised if the datacenter wasn't, at least partially, to consolidate existing stuff.
Not a data center, a manufacturing complex (Score:2)
Specifically, it is a high-speed, state-of-the-art rumor mill.
Maybe I'm a bit simple . . . (Score:2)
I call BS (Score:4, Insightful)
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Where is this $1 billion price tag coming from? I've seen facotries go up twice that size for under $20 million, so unless the thing is filled with solid gold doorknobs I'm doubting that pricetag. To me that looks like your standard manufacturing plant, look at the water towers... why would you need those in a data center?.
The price does seem way too high. But the water towers actually make sense. They are a backup water supply (for cooling) in case something happens to the main water supply.
That's no datacenter. (Score:3)
It will be as if a million Google servers cried out in terror.
Re:Cloud (Score:5, Insightful)
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When they first announced Chrome, they also showed saving a file to a thumb drive. The Cr-48 netbooks don't support that in beta, but I assume it will by launch. And while your data is online, you choose which web services to use. And those services aren't necessarily locked.
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Not correct, I have a cr-48 and I can save a file to USB or SD card. Reading one on the other hand, is out of the picture.
Re:Cloud (Score:5, Funny)
It will also mean that the future iPhones, iPads and Mac computers will be even more locked down than previously. For example if you take a picture, it's directly uploaded "to the cloud". This is a huge privacy violation and means you don't really own your data anymore.
What in the hell are you talking about?
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Microsoft's own market dominance is built on giving the vendors everything they want, as well as restricting the users' ability to break away from MS products. It's not about whether you choose Windows or an alternative, it's whether you can swim hard enough to beat the current that drags you down to Windows. I don't mean to hop on some bandwagon of hatred
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Microsoft is the only one giving you choice, but on slashdot they're supposedly always the bad guy.
You haven't been watch television lately have you. If you were, you'd see the Microsoft 'To the Cloud' [youtube.com] commercials [youtube.com] ad [youtube.com] nauseam [youtube.com]. They are right there with all the others wanting the same thing. To the 'Mainframe' with all of them.
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" To the 'Mainframe' with all of them."
Another person who doesn't know the difference. Shut up about the cloud and mainframe until you know what the fuck you are talking about.
Um how is Apple bad? (Score:2)
Does Apple give the pretence of privacy? If you only used the default Apps that came with the iPhone, you would probably be at little risk of losing your personal data (excluding the included Google apps of course).
IMO I think Apple has always cared about user's security, just look at how secure Mac OS X is --- sure there are exploits, but it's nothing l
Re:Cloud - Microsoft did it . . . twice already (Score:2)
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You can build android for your own phone, how do you think Cyanogenmod and other roms are built?
Some of the drivers are closed, but even those are being opened or replaced.
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Only one giving you a choice
Wild speculation on your part
I've got an iPhone and a Mac, and not one byte of my data is stored anywhere near Google's or Apple's servers. I see no indications that I will be forced to store my data on Apple's servers anytime in the future. I'm sure I will be able to, but I'm currently confident that I will have the choice. On the other hand the copy of MS Office I just installed REQUIRED me to register the software on line with Microsoft...
My immediate suggestion would be to put down the kool-aid
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Apple has already started moving to cloud based services, so most likely the data center will be for those. It will also mean that the future iPhones, iPads and Mac computers will be even more locked down than previously. For example if you take a picture, it's directly uploaded "to the cloud". This is a huge privacy violation and means you don't really own your data anymore.
So either you care about this 'privacy' you are talking about and you just don't use or buy anything that stores your files 'in the cloud', or you don't bother about where your holiday pictures and e-mails are stored and enjoy the benefits of automatically backed-up storage that is accessible everywhere, from different devices, without setting up and running your own private data center. I don't see the problem here. Meanwhile everyone and their mother have long moved on and doesn't have the same privacy pa
Re:Cloud (Score:5, Insightful)
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You can't have it both ways-- you either go Google and get your cloud for free with ads and metrics, or you actually pay money for your service.
Or a very profitable company pays for it for free but ties it to their hardware offerings in the hopes that it will drive sales of that hardware.
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While were making up scenarios, why don't we just find a very profitable company that buys us all ponies to complement our phones, too?
There's a bunch of questions to be answered -- does MobileMe have a halo effect on other devices, like the phones? Could it ever? If you can find a way of answering this yes, then you're on to something. Then, you have to figure out if you have enough capacity to service accounts that have zero cost at the point of delivery -- Google does, but Apple doesn't. A low price
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You don't think apple makes any money from all that info? You don't think they use it for anything?
You must be kidding.
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Yes, they make $99 per year, per user. It's really not that hard to understand.
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You, poor, naive, fool.
It just means they made $99 per year, per user, plus whatever they can make from selling your personal data. Now to be fair, Apple is nowhere near as good at making money off your data as Google is, but they are trying to close that gap.
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Or I could had got the option to upload my pictures with javascript and all (and eventually database if needed but I doubt it is) to any web server I want (I think you can upload from iWeb to anything? Not necessary MobileMe?)
You can upload to anything you want using iWeb, whether it is just to a directory or using FTP to a remote Web server anywhere.
I know there was a guide for how to set up a FreeBSD server as a .mac account but I don't think it has been updated for long.
I don't understand why you would do this. What is the benefit over using services not posing as Apple's service?
IMHO 99 dollars was expensive. And considering how much Apple machines cost + what iLife cost I think they could had offered it for free as an "Apple advantage"...
I agree, but then neither of us has access to the numbers. I think they'd be better off trying to include it as an expense that drives hardware adoption and it would be a lot more popular and become more of a differentiator as well as giving Apple leverage when they wanted
Re:Cloud (Score:4, Informative)
The flashy iPhoto album stuff to[sic]?
Yeah, it's nothing proprietary.
Free of charge? Experience? Unlimited storage? Better bandwidth?
You misunderstand. I'm not asking why you'd want to go with services other than Apple's .Mac. I'm asking why you'd want to go with services that pretend to be .Mac instead of just using regular, off the shelf services for mail, jabber, backup disk, etc.
What?
For instance the remote desktop thingy
You mean Apple Remote Desktop? That doesn't rely upon the .Mac service that I know of. It's just a remote desktop client that runs on OS X (usually server).
Other examples would be Timemachine backups to whatever wireless router with an NTFS/FAT32 USB HDD.
That's not a function of .Mac either, it's just a limitation of the OS X built in backup (limited support for filesystems). The method used relies upon the journaling in HFS+ and they haven't spent the time to make it work with any other journaled filesystems, lt alone non-journaled ones. But this all has nothing to do with Apple's .Mac services.
Has nothing to do with MobileMe ...
Right, so you still haven't pointed out anything you can do with .Mac or MobileMe or whatever that you can't replicate with other services.
...but still with inconvenient solutions from Apple just so they can sell more of their gear.
It's actually a real limitation based upon filesystems. You can use any wireless router plugged into an HFS+ hard drive.
I'd rather choose options which benefits _me_.
By all means you should choose what works for you, but I'm not seeing how Apple is making that intentionally difficult other than not going out of their way to port some of their software to other OS's and filesystems.
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So everyone on Slashdot who doesn't run their own mail server (at significant expense either in time or buying pre-integrated software) is too lazy?
Get a life.
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If MobileMe or whatever it's called has tough us anything it's that Apples cloud stuff suck. If it's going to be expensive and locked in just for the sake of locking in I'm not going. Though I wouldn't buy the freaking Apple device to begin with..
I don't know that I'd call MobileMe expensive... It's only about $100/year. That's less than I'm paying for my WoW account.
And I don't know that I'd call it especially locked-in either. Granted, it's designed by Apple for Apple devices... But there's also a Windows install and a web client.
May I assume that a Google tablet cloud service would be free of charge? ..
Well, it'd probably be free of charge... But it'll likely be supported by ads. Which plenty of people will object to. Especially since Google will be scraping your email for context to generate that advertising.
And
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Obviously this facility will house the thousands of centrifuges necessary to purify enough U-235 to implement the final phase of Operation Apple Core Takeover.
The iReactor, now thinner, lighter, and shinier than ever!
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Looks to me like they just need larger digs to hold Steve Jobs' massive ego. At the rate it's growing, in ten years Apple will have to buy a continent.
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The fact that the Windows user experience is pretty disma
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The reason people are moving to Apple in droves
Methinks you are getting a little ahead of yourself.
There’s no evidence that the marketplace is abandoning Windows to any significant degree. The overall share of Internet traffic from Windows PCs has dropped slightly in the past two-and-a-half years, from 95.4% to 91.1%. But that’s true across the board for competing desktop OSes as well. Linux usage is down dramatically in 2010, to 0.85% from an all-time high of 1.08% in early 2009. Interestingly, OS X usage is also down, dropping by roughl
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"Apple has created a situation where people no longer have to live in a world where there machine is pwned by malware."
Stop [sophos.com] drinking that kool-aid, fan boy.
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Stop drinking that kool-aid, fan boy.
Seriously, a link to a Sophos website as evidence for MacOS X malware?
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I thought that was the iStore?