Apple has confirmed that it will build a data center in Prineville, Oregon -- next door to the massive computing facility Facebook opened last year -- and according to the Prineville city engineer, Apple is planning to build a facility that's "similar" to Facebook's energy-conscious design, which the social giant has "open sourced" to the rest of the world.
Last week, according to the Central Oregonian, papers were filed with the Cook County Clerk’s Office that said Apple has purchased a parcel of land near Prineville for $5.6 million. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the company confirmed the purchase with a local TV station.
Then on Tuesday, Prineville city engineer Eric Klann tells Wired, the city received a land-use application for the property in question. According to Klann, the application says that development will begin with eight modular data center units built by the San Jose-based outfit NxGen Modular, and if "all goes well," Klann says, the plan is to build a larger facility "similar" to Facebook's.
The news is another sign that Apple has big plans for its iCloud service and other software tools that store user data in the proverbial heavens. But Apple's plan also reaffirm Facebook's new approach to data center design. Traditionally, the big internet players -- including Google and Amazon -- have said very little about the design of their new-age data centers, but Facebook is openly sharing its designs in an effort to improve the efficiency of facilities across the net.
Facebook's data center uses outside air from the Oregonian high desert to cool its server rooms, eliminating the need for energy-sapping electric chillers, and its electrical system significantly reduces power loss by cutting down on the number conversions between AC and DC power. In April, the company open sourced not only the designs for the data center but also the designs of the servers that work in tandem with its revamped electrical system.
Last fall, Klann told us that two separate companies -- codenamed "Maverick" and "Cloud" -- were looking to build facilities in Prineville using Facebook's data center designs. "Cloud" is Rackspace, the Texas-based cloud computing outfit, which has apparently decided not to build in Prineville. But "Maverick" is Apple.
Facebook and Apple were attracted to Prineville not only because of the cool air on the high desert, but because the local government is providing extensive tax breaks. Attracted by similar tax breaks, Google has also built a data center in rural Oregon.
At its Oregon site, Google pioneered the use of data center modules, piecing together its facility using shipping containers pre-packed with servers and other hardware, and others, including Microsoft, have followed suit. It's unclear whether Apple's NxGen modules are just a temporary solution or part of its permanent plan for the Prineville site.
