“Is Apple using custom enclosures and “unique” airflow and cable management in its North Carolina data center? We can’t say for certain, but it sure looks that way based on an announcement today from several data center industry equipment vendors,” Rich Miller reports for Data Center Knowledge.
“Instor and Electrorack said they have completed a project providing tailor-made enclosures for an unnamed client at a large data center in North Carolina,” Miller reports. “The vendors said the units were ‘built specifically to address the owner’s precise and unique requirements concerning airflow, cable management and equipment mounting.'”
Miller reports, “Instor and Electrorack wouldn’t comment on the identity of their client. They were hired by Holder Construction, whose many data center projects include Apple’s 500,000 square foot iDataCenter in Maiden, North Carolina. While Instor and Electrorack aren’t talking, the project description suggests a massive facility.”
Read more in the full article-recommended – here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “krquet” for the heads up.]
That’s sort of like saying, “…a major national bank, I won’t mention its name but its initials are BofA…”
Sounds like something Apple would ask for.
Apple, can’t settle for just any massive data center.
Most likely A high velocity museum quality HVAC system.
Nah, it’s just a bunch of computers scattered all over the place with Ethernet cables and extension cords running all over the place. Oscillating fans for cooling.
I did hear that Steve Jobs insisted on a really good surge protector though.
I wonder if it’s anything like this.
http://www.c7dc.com/facilities/cold-aisle-cooling.htm
We stared using that Data Center 2 1/2 years ago. It was the first time I’d seen anything with Cold-aisle Containment.
It’s just like Apple to take design details to new levels. There are no cutting corners or settling for inferior low cost solutions within every minute area of this company. No one even comes close to Apple.
We can’t tell you who our customer is, but it rhymes with… “grapple”.
At it’s not Snapple.
My bet is that the NC data center will be used for a new MobileMe on steroids. Users will upload all their hard drive contents, making their personal data available to all their mobile iDevices. The desktop as mothership model will eventually disappear; the cloud will become the repository of all our digital hub data.
Relax it’s just a new computer for Apple’s finance department.
It is the mythical CLOUD.
and yet, MobileMe STILL won’t function properly!
“Users will upload all their hard drive contents, making their personal data available to all their mobile iDevices. The desktop as mothership model will eventually disappear; the cloud will become the repository of all our digital hub data.”
Just how many months will it take for me to upload my 1 tb hard drive?
Yes, liquid cooled with Cheerwine.
“We’ll keep all your lifelong precious data here, and as long as you continue to pay us, we promise not to delete it…. but we will analyze its contents to improve our services, and only share it with select business partners. Oops, sorry, MobileSync needed to reset your account data.”
Maybe they needed the “unique cooling solution” for all those Mac Minis Steve had to stack up on top of each other.
Does anybody know if they’re using DELL?
Are there any other large data centres in North Carolina?
There’s only TWO things this massive center could be for:
1. Creation of the Apple iRobot.
2. Creation of the Apple iTransporter.
shhh…don’t tell anybody.
I recall reading that the manager of Apple’s Data Centers and the designer/construction manager of the NC Data Center died suddenly, leaving behind his wife and young daughter. Very sad, he was described as a visionary in his field and a tremendous loss to the data center community.
Google has one and Facebook recently announced they’re building one.