Apple may have planned to build second NC data center from day one
Rumors continue to swirl over Apple's mysterious plans for its data center site in Maiden, North Carolina, with new evidence suggesting that the company may have intended to build from the get-go a second, identically-sized facility adjacent to the one that's already operational.
A new report from All Things Digital points to two images on the Catawba County, N.C., Flickr page showing two bird's eye renderings of Apple's site in Maiden -- one with a single facility and a another, labeled "Phase 2," showing a second, seemingly identical building.
Rumors that Apple was considering a second facility in Maiden picked up steam last week when when the same publication, citing anonymous sources, reported that the company was considering doubling its operations there to 500,000 square-feet. The North Carolina data center is already five times larger than the company's current data center in Newark, California.
However, the images discovered Monday are raising questions as to whether Apple's plans for the data center project, which is code-named Dolphin, called for two matching facilities all along. It's therefore similarly unclear whether any of the recent reports on Apple doubling the size of the project represent anything new.
One theory mentioned in the latest report is that the structure that Apple just finished completing this fall is only 250,000 square feet and that documentation that has long listed the initiative as a 500,000-square-foot project may have been contingent on the company building a second facility all along.
According to a Data Center Knowledge report published Sunday, the first finished facility is "fully operational," with the company expected to begin operations "any day now."
A new report from All Things Digital points to two images on the Catawba County, N.C., Flickr page showing two bird's eye renderings of Apple's site in Maiden -- one with a single facility and a another, labeled "Phase 2," showing a second, seemingly identical building.
Rumors that Apple was considering a second facility in Maiden picked up steam last week when when the same publication, citing anonymous sources, reported that the company was considering doubling its operations there to 500,000 square-feet. The North Carolina data center is already five times larger than the company's current data center in Newark, California.
However, the images discovered Monday are raising questions as to whether Apple's plans for the data center project, which is code-named Dolphin, called for two matching facilities all along. It's therefore similarly unclear whether any of the recent reports on Apple doubling the size of the project represent anything new.
One theory mentioned in the latest report is that the structure that Apple just finished completing this fall is only 250,000 square feet and that documentation that has long listed the initiative as a 500,000-square-foot project may have been contingent on the company building a second facility all along.
According to a Data Center Knowledge report published Sunday, the first finished facility is "fully operational," with the company expected to begin operations "any day now."
Comments
They likely invested their resources to get the first one up and running, and now that it is finished will work on the second data center building. Sounds smarter than trying to build two building at once...
What seems the obvious question though is with all the "reporting"'on this data center over the last 6-12 months, how is it that no one confirmed the size of it? That no one asked if it was being built in phases? That no one did any journalism on it what so ever....
Tired of the self perpetuating rumor mill.
The server farm keeps on growing... I am sure that Apple had plans for the second building all along.
They likely invested their resources to get the first one up and running, and now that it is finished will work on the second data center building. Sounds smarter than trying to build two building at once...
That seems extremely likely.
SkyNet!!!
Or.......Jurassic Park! Imagine, the next big Apple event features Steve dressed up in an uncharacteristic white collared shirt and beach hat with a cane, opening with "It cost us 51 billion dollars, we spared no expense".
It would explain the secrecy AND the reason for 2 sites right near each other. No it wouldn't.
But in all seriousness, I need to figure out if this is going towards some dropbox-esque feature in Lion ASAP, so I don't blow $100 on a year of dropbox and find out there's a somewhat comparable mac-built service. I guess I could go month to month. But I find that low level of commitment frightening (along with sunlight and cheerful conversation).
The server farm keeps on growing... I am sure that Apple had plans for the second building all along.
They likely invested their resources to get the first one up and running, and now that it is finished will work on the second data center building. Sounds smarter than trying to build two building at once...
I don't want to offend you any more than I am sure you don't want to offend me - so if you remove your religious reference in your signature we'll all be fine and dandy together in this Apple forum. Cheers
Although centrally state-located, the area is not impervious to hurricanes directly or indirectly. Certainly, the site is virtually bomb- and weather-proof. However, Apple has surely placed/leased/built redundant back-up mini-farms elsewhere.
What is odd is that they don't seem to have a second facility for backup when they fill up Maiden. You would expect them to have started construction on another west coast site before starting Phase 2 at Maiden.
SkyNet!!!
Hot swappable backup?
Not sure if Apple would put all their eggs in one basket, so to speak. But Apple's growth forecasts may be indicating that the current layout is/will sooner than later be overwhelmed.
Although centrally state-located, the area is not impervious to hurricanes directly or indirectly. Certainly, the site is virtually bomb- and weather-proof. However, Apple has surely placed/leased/built redundant back-up mini-farms elsewhere.
If the dashed black line on the drawing represents Apple's property line (and I think it does), it appears that there is room for an additional module on this site behind the second one. True, it won't "book" together as the first two do, but then by the time it's needed it may not matter.
If Apple has shown anything in the last decade it has been its propensity for long term strategic planning. Look how many years the iPhone was worked on before being released.
... One theory mentioned in the latest report is that the structure that Apple just finished completing this fall is only 250,000 square feet and that documentation that has long listed the initiative as a 500,000-square-foot project may have been contingent on the company building a second facility all along. ...
Since data centres typically use almost all of their building's volume for data storage and don't have a lot of extra meeting rooms, bathrooms or staff, a simple measuring of the size of the building from aerial photographs would answer this question quickly and easily if anyone's interested in doing it. It would be easy to tell, if we knew the length and breadth of the building itself, whether it could fit 250,000 or 500,000 square feet of servers inside.
I don't want to offend you any more than I am sure you don't want to offend me - so if you remove your religious reference in your signature we'll all be fine and dandy together in this Apple forum. Cheers
Seconded. Proselytising and Advertising are both against the forum rules aren't they?