Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Odds and ends, Xserve, Apple
Apple building server farm, secret lair in North Carolina
As Mike mentioned in the news roundup yesterday, word is going around that the corporate overlords at Apple are planning to build a massive server farm in the state of North Carolina within the next decade or so. How do we know? Because the company is working on getting a few nice tax breaks to go along with the deal, eventually worth about $46 million if Apple fulfills their end of the agreement. Their end of the agreement being a huge investment of a whopping $1 billion (that's over 333,000 Xserves, if that is indeed what they're installing -- and we bet not) into an economy that could probably use it. What exactly will go in there? We aren't sure -- lawmakers say the investment is worth it, and obviously Apple isn't showing their cards.[Note: the $1B investment figure is not an upfront number, but rather a total investment over the first 9 years of operation. –Ed.]
But the facility, once up and running, will start by employing at least 100 people, so that's a nice start. Google has apparently gone through the same deal with North Carolina recently, though their deal was a little smaller: $600 million investment for a server farm that opened last year.
More backend for Mobile Me? More power for the App Store or a project like it? A giant building full of Cubes running 24 hours a day? Or something we haven't even dreamt of yet?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
eli8527 said 11:18AM on 5-25-2009
Possibly for App Store Notifications?
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Brandon said 11:19AM on 5-25-2009
Do you think it could be for Obama making all of the healthcare records digital?
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Stefan said 11:20AM on 5-25-2009
That number of XServes is wrong. The main thing is that Apple wont have to pay their own Apple tax (I mean, that'd just be silly!). If you guesstimate that its, say, 1/3rd of the list price as the Apple tax, then its more like 500,000 Xserves... Of course, Apple will probably use the kitted out versions...
As to what they'll be doing, Id say theyll be trying to distil genius, using the DNA of Johnny Ive and Stevie Jobs. Maybe just combine their DNA to create an über CEO to succeed Steve?
Really, though, how about push for iPhones? MobileMe relocation/expansion? etc. etc. Apple are possibly relocating and expanding all at the same time. With the tax breaks, that might not last all that long, theyd be silly not to invest.
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Todd said 11:33AM on 5-25-2009
Well, 1 billion investment - for a 46 million tax return? That does _not_ make sense at all. And 1 billion for a server farm? C'mon, guys...
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waiownsyou said 11:43AM on 5-25-2009
well making Skynet is not cheap
Just Cause said 11:46AM on 5-25-2009
1 Infinite Loop, Some City, NC Apple Campus East :-)
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Stephen0493 said 11:48AM on 5-25-2009
emm well I think its for an app store but for the Mac OS. Maybe not for 10.6 (if indeed it will be a decade) but for maybe 10.7
It makes sense just now successful the iPhone OS AppStore has been and well its logical to imply it into other products as Apple usually does. For example, exchange support for iPhone OS now on Mac OS 10.6, Coverflow, moved from iTunes, to Finder, iPhone OS and now safari too. Iv also heard that Mail will be getting it aswell in 10.6... my sources are solid.
But I think it will be for an AppStore for Mac. I mean I would love a single place where I can but Games, Music, Applications and everything for my Mac.
What do you think?
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oliver hart said 4:34PM on 5-25-2009
Sounds intriguing. I think it could be anything as of now but that concept is sweet. A Mac Appstore. I HATE digging around the web looking for something I need-like Caffiene, Audacity, Little Snitch. It would be nice to just connect, search, buy, install-directly from Apple.
dan1el said 7:52AM on 6-02-2009
I like that you are considering 1 Billion USD is 333.000 Xservers, they might need something to be in as well, like a building, maybe some cooling system and I bet someone would have to install them as well ;)
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Jon said 11:56AM on 5-25-2009
It may not necessarily be for a brand new product (and is an app store for the Mac such a good thing anyway?) - it may just be to cope with increases in demand for existing products or increases in demand for more resource-hungry tasks such as HD downloads.
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Nick F said 12:12PM on 5-25-2009
I vote for the appstore for Mac. The success of the iPhone version has impressed them. It's logical, Jim.
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Olly said 12:33PM on 5-25-2009
I think its just too big for it to just be for existing Cloud services, such as MobileMe or the AppStore, even the iTunes Store with its HD programmes. Speculation on this one could be huge but... what if the whole OS (or at least a large percentage of it) moved to the Cloud? Although the idea does sound stupid (i mean come on, how fast would a tablet be running Mac OS X over the 3G network?) Perhaps it could just be used for storing files? That way a tablet device, or Mac OS iPhone product, could utilise it rather than its own storage, removing the need for a physically large Hard or small memory wise Flash Drive. How big are Skype's servers?
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Roberto said 12:22PM on 5-25-2009
One billion dollars produces 100 jobs? That's 10 million per vacancy.
12 million unemployed US citizens: 120 trillion needed.
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Andrew said 3:38PM on 5-25-2009
Yeah, because those 12 million people need several Xserves each to do their jobs...
milestinsley said 1:32PM on 5-25-2009
It would be awesome if this was the future backend for the next gen Mac OS, that is web based. Think *everything* syncing to the cloud.
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NCMacMan said 4:42PM on 5-25-2009
This $1B is for the first 9 years of operations, with $20MM for construction (reasonable for a warehouse/server farm building) another $100MM in equipment, and $10MM for payroll for the 100 employees for year 1 comes to a grand total of $130MM for year 1. Add on another $20MM for operational incidentals (electric, water, office supplies, minor equipment purchases, office furniture)
$840MM for the remaining years. What can you buy for that???
A huge amount of capital equipment...or one huge glass cube that lights up. Either or would be awesome!
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Amir said 6:20PM on 5-26-2009
What about year 2?
-payroll for the now 100+ employee (it does say that 100 is a starting point)
-operating expenses
-upgrades
-expensions
how about they do all you guys mentioned at the same time?
push notification + faster app store + faster iTunes store + better, bigger (free-er?) mobile-me + expanded iwork.com + web distribution of new OS to save on packaging and delivery + something new and big
Bob Smith said 3:51PM on 5-25-2009
If you're doing farms on that scale, big iron like a large IBM server or SGI Altix become a better solution than thousands of Xserves.
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Doug McIntosh said 12:16PM on 5-26-2009
Not at THEIR cost...
Andrew said 4:27PM on 5-25-2009
10 years down the line... they are preparing for something relatively small like a new app store. This is a massive investment for apple, they are going to produce something good!
This must be something we haven't even heard of yet, I mean if they wanted and app store for Mac's that would be here next year. The new OS is a good idea although I'm not totally convinced.
Come on, think big.... we might actually be able to getour hopes up about this...
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