New Oregon Data Center Confirmed by Apple
Posted by zduncan | Posted in Computer | Posted on 24-02-2012
Tags: Apple, Apple data center, Apple North Carolina data center, Apple Oregon data center, Project Maverick
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Apple recently purchased a 160-acre plot of land in Oregon and plans to use the space to build a giant Apple data center. This confirms long-standing rumors that Apple was, in fact, planning on building a new data center in the near future. The piece of land is located in Prineville and cost the company $5.6 million. The deal, known as “Project Maverick”, has been quietly in the works for months.
A representative of Apple confirmed that the company had indeed purchased the land for a data center though declined to comment on the project further. Before Apple had the deed signed over last week, no one was allowed to speak about it due to the non-disclosure agreements signed by county officials.
Despite those agreements, however, the deal was leaked back in December by a local newspaper. A lot of web companies have come to Oregon due to the state’s sizable property tax breaks and low power costs. Companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon all have data centers in the same area.
This data center expansion by Apple comes at a time when the company is placing an increased reliance on servers as part of its products. Apple unveiled last week its newest operating system, Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, which is due out this summer. The software has a deeper integration with iCloud, allowing users to store desktop files in Apples cloud. Apple was also seen signing leases to expand its data center capacity and has reportedly invested $1 billion in its North Carolina data center.
Apple just released an environmental report that announced its North Carolina data center will be powered by the largest end-user owned solar array and will also have the largest non-utility fuel cell in the country. That center has already been awarded LEED Platinum certification from the United States Green Building Council with Apple planning on making the new Oregon facility green as well.
Source: CNET – Apple confirms plans to build data center in Oregon