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Apple radically upgrading its cloud data infrastructure in run-up to streaming music launch

Bloomberg provides some detail on our report that Apple is working to dramatically upgrade its cloud infrastructure as it prepares to launch its Apple Music streaming service. The company is said to be working on designing its own storage and network equipment, rather than relying exclusively on third-party companies, and to build its own private fiber optic links between its key data centers in California, Nevada, North Carolina and Oregon.

Apple’s data centers currently use mostly off-the-shelf equipment: HP servers, Cisco switches and NetApp storage. Now it is working on designing its own equipment, to increase efficiency and reduce costs … 

Bloomberg says that Apple will retain the existing third-party kit, but would look to use more of its own equipment as it expands capacity.

Apple isn’t expected to replace the hundreds of thousands of servers and other machines in its current data centers, but will use more of its own gear as it builds new facilities. Earlier this year, Apple said it would spend $3.9 billion on new data centers in Arizona, Ireland and Denmark. It’s working on at least one product, called a top-of-rack switch, using open-source software from startup Cumulus Networks Inc. running on servers made by Taiwan-based Quanta Computer Inc., said two people with knowledge of the plan.

Apple also wants to build its own high-speed fiber lines between those data centers to increase bandwidth – and boost efficiency by automatically assigning servers to those services experiencing greatest demand. This is an approach used by companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook, and will, said one industry expert, be particularly useful with Apple’s TV ambitions.

That would be helpful if Apple does offer an online TV service to compete with cable companies, said Steve Garrison, vice president of marketing at Pica8 Inc., a white-box networking company. Rather than spend days manually preparing racks of equipment to handle a major sporting event, the software could do the job in minutes, he said, and adapt to unexpected spikes or declines in viewership.

Apple has in the past relied on external Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to deliver data to customers, but started using its own CDNs last year – later using it to distribute iOS 8.

Perhaps with these planned improvements Apple will finally deliver on my plea to get a little more serious about cloud storage?

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Comments

  1. friarnurgle - 9 years ago

    The people turning off their iCloud Photo back up due to Google Photo should help too.

    • Atlas (@Metascover) - 9 years ago

      Yes, let’s replace our full resolution images with compressed ones that can also be used for other stuff without our consent !

      • friarnurgle - 9 years ago

        We all have different needs. For myself and many others our photo libraries mainly come from our smartphone cameras. Google’s compression of images to a max of 16 megapixels is more than sufficient. If you have a fancy camera then it makes sense to be more concerned about storing raw uncompressed image files and you likely don’t mind paying for a service that can accommodate that need.

        The privacy concerns and how Google uses our photos will also differ from person to person. Per the terms in exchange for the service Google obtains the ability to mine out photos for info to better target you with ads for things that you like based off those photos. It’s kinda like the recommended lists on Amazon or Netflix. Google isn’t going to take your photo and use it in some ad or anything like that.

        Personally I think it is a rather fair exchange. Not only do I get to use a pretty impressing unlimited photo back up service but I also supposedly will get these targeted ads… which I honestly never see due to ad blockers and spam filters, maybe I need to turn them off or something cause I could be missing out on some good deals. Google gets to make money by selling companies these targeted ads. Think it’s a win win but do see the other side of the coin. Especially if I was a professional photographer or privacy tin foil hat wearer.

      • Dave Howarth - 9 years ago

        I’ll concede that those aren’t necessarily small “cons” but to the average user, the “pros” are way higher. To back up all of my pictures I would need to be paying Apple at least $20 a month if not more, plus going through all of my pictures to sort and tag them appropriately which google will tag for me, making it incredibly easy to go back and find certain pictures. I’m a huge Apple fan, but google wins this round hands down for the average consumer.

  2. 89p13 - 9 years ago

    With the number of “burps” lately in the Apple Cloud – this is most welcome news!

  3. rwanderman - 9 years ago

    It’s not just a speed issue, it’s also a reliability issue. Apple needs to keep working to make iCloud and its application that are connected to it more reliable.

    iCloud is worlds better than Mobile Me, but it’s not as reliable as it should be yet.

    Still, this is a good sign: putting resources into infrastructure, while not as sexy as a new gadget, will improve the user experience of everyone who uses Apple products, whether they notice it or not. Too bad the US government isn’t thinking along the same lines about our crumbling infrastructure.

  4. Atlas (@Metascover) - 9 years ago

    It’s incredible that Gmail has had very little downtime since its creation yet iCloud mail is constantly facing downtimes… it’s a real catastrophe. If Google can make why can’t Apple?

    • Apple is successful, but they aren’t the leader in every area. Google is ahead in some areas, Apple is ahead in some areas. I don’t use iCloud or Apple Maps because Google is superior in those two areas, but I do anticipate a day in which Apple is on par with Google in those areas.

      • Tuvatech - 9 years ago

        Which is quite ironical since Apple was there first. iCloud was launched in Oct 2011. Google Drive was launched 6 months later in Apr 2012. Apple has just messed up so much recently. The quality-oriented way of doing things died with Steve Jobs. I guess Tim Cook is a better boss, so others are not pushing that hard anymore. Apple is still good, but not as good as it used to be. A lot of their apps stink and they are often doing the catching up these days, rather than innovating.

  5. Mike Retondo (@mretondo) - 9 years ago

    OMG! Everything in this article I expected Apple to have already been doing for over 5 years. Who in the hell is running Apples data centers?

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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