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Apple's Oregon data center to rival size of N.C. iCloud installation

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A new fiing with the city of Prineville, Ore., reveals Apple is planning to build a large, two-building data center on the 160 acres of land it purchased in February, comparable in size to the main building at the company's Maiden, N.C., facilty.

The plans, discovered by The Bend Bulletin on Wednesday, call for two large buildings that house so-called "data halls," with the structures covering over 500,000 square feet of space, reports the Associated Press.

While Apple's plans don't nail down a specific start date for construction, a previous statement from the company said the undertaking is projected to generate "hundreds of construction jobs to the area."

The Prineville data center's exact purpose remains unclear, but Apple has already broken ground with a 10,000-square-foot building expected to house a number of servers. When offices, loading docks and parking lots are completed, the project is expected to spread across 107 acres. In contrast, the company's Maiden data plant's solar farm alone takes up about 100 acres of land.

As part of the plan, Apple has agreed to help boost the capacity of the city's water system, and work is underway to tap a newly-found underground stream for that purpose.

"We will be converting those to production wells, with Apple's help, and we will reimburse them over time," said Prineville City Manager Steve Forrester. "It will give them the water they need, and it gives us ... more capacity than they are consuming. It strengthens our core system."


Facebook's Prineville, Ore., data center is said to be minutes away from Apple's new facility. | Source: Facebook

It was reported in April that Apple will pay the Prineville city and Crook County governments $150,000 a year in return for a 15-year property tax exemption. The Cupertino-based company will keep a minimum staff of 35 at the center who will be paid wages up to 150 percent higher than the Crook County average. Currently, the county is facing a 12.8 percent rate of unemployment.

In comparison to the Prineville facility, Apple's $1 billion Maiden, N.C., data center holds the same square footage in one large structure, which is flanked by a smaller 21,000-square-foot "tactical data center," a biogas fuel cell array and a 100-acre solar farm. The huge Maiden facility is home to Apple's iCloud, the iTunes Store and Siri.



12 Comments

rabbit_coach 15 Years · 1114 comments

Might be the mirror of the N.C. data center?

ericthehalfbee 14 Years · 4489 comments

I'm wondering what Apple plans in the future. This data centre plus the one in Reno will leave them with excess capacity for what their current user base requires.

 

Maybe it's to serve up streaming video for Apple TV? To offer iCloud users more space/services? To bring out their own version of Dropbox? Maybe to store all the map data?

ignatz 13 Years · 10 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider 

In comparison to the Prineville facility, Apple's $1 billion Maiden, N.C., data center holds the same square footage in one large structure, which is flanked by a smaller 21,000-square-foot "tactical data center," a biogas fuel cell array and a 100-acre solar farm. The huge Maiden facility is home to Apple's iCloud, the iTunes Store and Siri.

 

 

Watch the Fandroids try to spin this as something negative.

 

The fact is that when you buy an Apple product, you get the benefits of their data centers and their infrastructure.  You get an ecosystem that is second to none.

 

So much for the "Apple Tax".   Fact is, you get a lot of extra value.

rabbit_coach 15 Years · 1114 comments

[quote name="EricTheHalfBee" url="/t/151964/apples-oregon-data-center-to-rival-size-of-n-c-icloud-installation#post_2169738"]I'm wondering what Apple plans in the future. This data centre plus the one in Reno will leave them with excess capacity for what their current user base requires. Maybe it's to serve up streaming video for Apple TV? To offer iCloud users more space/services? To bring out their own version of Dropbox? Maybe to store all the map data? [/quote] More space at less expensive conditions would be most welcome. IMHO

grid 14 Years · 21 comments

[quote name="EricTheHalfBee" url="/t/151964/apples-oregon-data-center-to-rival-size-of-n-c-icloud-installation#post_2169738"]I'm wondering what Apple plans in the future. This data centre plus the one in Reno will leave them with excess capacity for what their current user base requires. Maybe it's to serve up streaming video for Apple TV? To offer iCloud users more space/services? To bring out their own version of Dropbox? Maybe to store all the map data? [/quote] I tend to agree, considering I just read that Apple applied/received patents for a cable box. Don't really know the validity of that. Prinville is only 1-2 hours from me. I may just take a drive down to view when I can.