Apple owns another 70 acres at North Carolina data center site
In addition to the 183-acre parcel where Apple's 500,000-square-foot data center will be built, the company owns an additional 70 acres across the street, suggesting the server farm could do more than just double in size.
When Apple purchased the property for its data center in Maiden, N.C., in 2009, reports indicated the deal was for 183 acres of land. But as discovered by John Paczkowski of Digital Daily, Apple actually owns another 70 acres across the street, also purchased in July of last year, to be used for an unknown purpose.
"The scuttlebutt around Maiden is that the company intends to use it for office space. But that seems unlikely," the report said. "A more plausible explanation is that this parcel, too, will be used for data center space."
If true, the use of the additional 70 acres could mean that Apple's data center will become much larger than anticipated. Late last week, it was revealed that Apple may already have plans to double the North Carolina site to 1 million square feet.
This week, additional evidence to support an expanded facility was revealed, as plans for the site include "Phase 2" with a second, seemingly identical building. The current 500,000-square-foot data center, expected to fully open by year's end, is already five times larger than the company's current data center in Newark, Calif.
Apple first announced the location of its secretive massive data center in July 2009. The company has hired staff for the $1 billion facility, but its exact purpose remains unknown.
Apple has invested heavily in the property, paying as much as $1.7 million to relocate a family for just one acre of land. Codenamed 'Project Dolphin' by government officials, the data center is expected to directly provide jobs for 50 people, and also generate 250 auxiliary jobs and as many as 3,000 peripheral jobs for the local area.
When Apple purchased the property for its data center in Maiden, N.C., in 2009, reports indicated the deal was for 183 acres of land. But as discovered by John Paczkowski of Digital Daily, Apple actually owns another 70 acres across the street, also purchased in July of last year, to be used for an unknown purpose.
"The scuttlebutt around Maiden is that the company intends to use it for office space. But that seems unlikely," the report said. "A more plausible explanation is that this parcel, too, will be used for data center space."
If true, the use of the additional 70 acres could mean that Apple's data center will become much larger than anticipated. Late last week, it was revealed that Apple may already have plans to double the North Carolina site to 1 million square feet.
This week, additional evidence to support an expanded facility was revealed, as plans for the site include "Phase 2" with a second, seemingly identical building. The current 500,000-square-foot data center, expected to fully open by year's end, is already five times larger than the company's current data center in Newark, Calif.
Apple first announced the location of its secretive massive data center in July 2009. The company has hired staff for the $1 billion facility, but its exact purpose remains unknown.
Apple has invested heavily in the property, paying as much as $1.7 million to relocate a family for just one acre of land. Codenamed 'Project Dolphin' by government officials, the data center is expected to directly provide jobs for 50 people, and also generate 250 auxiliary jobs and as many as 3,000 peripheral jobs for the local area.
Comments
That's a small data centre on such a big lot, 500 square feet, can't fit too much in that.
My master bedroom is my own personal 500 sf datacenter. LOL.
Lets all speculate on what Apple will use the server farm for. My hope is aside from the new app store, there will be a revamped mobile me service. Imagine Time Machine that backs up to a remote server and can be accessed from my iphone, ipad and any other computer. Now there are no worries about hard drive size. I can stream my movies, and music to my apple TV, iphone, and ipad. Prior to getting on a plane, I simply choose the content I need and quickly download that content into my device so that I can access what I want while I fly or otherwise am not connected to the internet. This will lead to flash drives on laptops as there will no longer be a need for large hard drives as your main storage is in the cloud. This will be revolutionary.
Yeah, and then one day the Sun will be more active than usual and you won't be able to access your data at all. This will start the new revolution.
Oh no! Apple is starting to buy up the US of A!
They should buy land in cooler climates. The energy cost to cool a data center like they are building will run in the 100s of thousands of dollars a month.
They should buy land in cooler climates. The energy cost to cool a data center like they are building will run in the 100s of thousands of dollars a month.
I'm sure that was factored in along with dozens of other variables that wouldn't be obvious, including geological stability, cost of power, business climate, etc.
I'm sure that was factored in along with dozens of other variables that wouldn't be obvious, including geological stability, cost of power, business climate, etc.
I'm thinking Colorado will be next. That way they have West Coast, East Coast and Midwest covered then go to Europe and Asia. You really need to be close to your data for super high speed that would be necessary for cloud storage. We have offices in Europe and the latency is definitely an issue from California.
I'm thinking Colorado will be next. That way they have West Coast, East Coast and Midwest covered then go to Europe and Asia. You really need to be close to your data for super high speed that would be necessary for cloud storage. We have offices in Europe and the latency is definitely an issue from California.
NOW we know what Steve was alluding to on the big use for his pile of cash--server farm on the moon!
NOW we know what Steve was alluding to on the big use for his pile of cash--server farm on the moon!
See that is the thing about the speed of light. You can't go faster than 300,000 km per second, which is more than 1 sec. latency to the moon. So when you double that for a round trip request and response, plus what ever last mile latency is incurred, you are much slower than working on your own hard disk. That will be one of the challenges of cloud based computing.
I suppose it could be that not all of that 183 acres is datacenter - a shared parking lot for example - or that not all of that 183 acres is useable but some number of acres came with the lot.
Or another way to read that could be that the existing 183 acres site is only half used - and that doubling on the first 183 acres is possible - plus MORE THAN DOUBLE by adding capacity on the other 70 acres.
If true, the use of the additional 70 acres could mean that Apple's data center will become much larger than anticipated. Late last week, it was revealed that Apple may already have plans to double the North Carolina site to 1 million square feet.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Maybe 70 acres recreational area for the staff, with swimming pools, gyms and a beautiful park with some lush restaurants inside.
How do you start with 183 acres and build a 500,000 sq ft building and then DOUBLE the size of that building by adding another 70 acres? Especially if the two spaces are not adjacent.
I suppose it could be that not all of that 183 acres is datacenter - a shared parking lot for example - or that not all of that 183 acres is useable but some number of acres came with the lot.
Or another way to read that could be that the existing 183 acres site is only half used - and that doubling on the first 183 acres is possible - plus MORE THAN DOUBLE by adding capacity on the other 70 acres.
183 acre is 8 million sq. ft. so even doubling the building to 1 million is only 1/8 of your land. Even accounting for easements, parking, etc, there should be ample room to expand.
How do you start with 183 acres and build a 500,000 sq ft building and then DOUBLE the size of that building by adding another 70 acres? Especially if the two spaces are not adjacent.
I suppose it could be that not all of that 183 acres is datacenter - a shared parking lot for example - or that not all of that 183 acres is useable but some number of acres came with the lot.
Or another way to read that could be that the existing 183 acres site is only half used - and that doubling on the first 183 acres is possible - plus MORE THAN DOUBLE by adding capacity on the other 70 acres.
An acre is 43560 square feet, so a 500,000 square ft building is about 11.5 acres. Plenty of room.
The building across the street will resemble a giant 500,000 sq. ft. Time Capsule.
Maybe 70 acres recreational area for the staff, with swimming pools, gyms and a beautiful park with some lush restaurants inside.
70 acres for about 35 employees?
Unless the plan is to seal them into the bubble so they can't leave.
They should buy land in cooler climates. The energy cost to cool a data center like they are building will run in the 100s of thousands of dollars a month.
While they add 2 billion in cash to their bank account per month.