“In addition to the world’s largest private fuel-cell installation and solar farm, Apple Inc. is building a new, smaller data center on its Maiden campus,” Sharon McBrayer reports for The Hickory Daily Record. “Activity at the Apple site in Maiden has been picking up steam lately, with multiple projects going on around the main campus. And it’s likely not the last of the data center’s growth.”
“According to Apple’s design plans on file with Catawba County, the new 21,030-square-foot data center, also referred to as a ‘tactical’ data center, will store clusters of servers,” McBrayer reports. “Permits filed with the county list the cost of the new 11-room data center at $1,885,129.”
McBrayer reports, “Other permits have been issued for 5971 Startown Road, including a mechanical permit dated June 19 described as a new building for alternative energy hydrogen fuel cell facility with a reinforced concrete pad. The estimated cost on the permit is a little more than $4.1 million… In addition to the new data center, Apple is constructing the largest private solar farm in the world at 6028 Startown Road, across the street from the data center. The company also is building a fuel cell installation. The solar farm and fuel cell installation is expected to produce 124 million kWh a year. That’s enough electricity to power 10,874 homes, the company says.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Attribution: AppleInsider. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
I have no idea what a ‘tactical’ data center is, or how it’s different from the big data center, but it sounds cool whatever it is!
Instead of using standard hard drives in those servers, Apple is using the latest SSDs for ultra-fast storage. How I wish that were true. Apple ought to do something with all that reserve cash that other companies would have a difficult time doing. There are a number of suppliers introducing SSD servers for those companies with deep pockets. State of the art data centers for Apple would go a long way for delivering system upgrades en-masse.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/systems/240003852
“Apple is constructing the largest private solar farm in the world…”
“Not good enough”, Greenpeace stated, at a recent press conference. “Those solar panels still require mining and fabrication. We will only be satisfied when all Apple facilities run solely in a non-material manner, bathed in the light of the seventh purple ray of the Ascended Masters”.
Seamus Anthony? From Belgrave, Melbourne, Oz?
1.8 Million?
That’s how much falls on the floor while they count the real money.
It’s a TimeMachine Backup Drive for the Data Center’s OS.