Apple has ordered twelve petabytes of storage from hardware and software provider, Isilon Systems, according to StorageNewsletter.com.
The storage, equivalent to 12,000 terabytes, will be used to host iTunes video content, according to the report. Apple’s order came to light via a source at storage giant, EMC which is in the process of acquiring Isilon Systems.
EMC is best known to Mac users as the parent company of Iomega, VMWare, and Mozy.
Apple is expected to significantly increase its online products and services in 2011. Top of the list is a new streaming music iTunes locker. This would allow iTunes users to access their music from wherever they are in the world and from whichever iTunes-compatible device they choose.
Also expected soon are improvements to MobileMe, a location-based digital assistant app for iOS, and mapping services.
The news of Apple’s huge storage order comes just days after Bernstein analyst, Toni Sacconaghi told investors that Apple would soon open a new data centre in North Carolina. Its purpose would be to host the iTunes streaming service which would cost around $5 per month, he said.
The new centre, in Maiden, NC, is 500,000 square feet in size and cost the company around $1bn. That’s five times the size of Apple’s existing data centre in Newark, California. It is, apparently, not big enough, however. It has already been reported that Apple has acquired a neighbouring plot of land, with the intention of increasing the size of the data centre to one million square feet.
