How Apple will use 12 petabytes of storage
Report suggests the space will be used to manage iTune video downloads
By Jeff Bertolucci | PC World | Published: 13:10, 07 April 2011
Apple is ordering a heaping helping of data storage - 12 petabytes, to be exact - from Isilon Systems, a division of EMC that specialises in scale-out storage. Cupertino plans to use that cavernous space to manage video downloads of its iTunes' customers, an anonymous insider at EMC tells StorageNewsletter.com.
The brief report doesn't provide specifics on Apple's mega-storage intentions, unfortunately, so that's all we know. In case you're wondering, 12 petabytes equals 12,288 terabytes or 12,582,912 gigabytes. Yep, that's a lot of disk space.
Scale-out storage is an increasingly popular data-management technology that replaces large, pricey servers with relatively inexpensive storage nodes.
The Apple-Isilon rumour fuses nicely with recently reports of Apple's video-streaming ambitions. Cupertino is reportedly developing a 'Smart TV prototype' that could combine video programming, gaming, video chat and smartphone/tablet-style apps in a living room entertainment system or HDTV, according to several analysts.
Apple is currently a minor player in the video-streaming market. A recent study by market research firm The NPD Group showed that Netflix's share of streamed or downloaded digital movies was a whopping 61 percent in January and February 2011. Comcast was second place with just eight percent. Apple, with a measly four percent, was tied for third with DirecTV and Time Warner.
Could the 12 petabytes of scale-out storage be part of Apple's plan to build a subscription-based, video-streaming service good enough to take on Netflix?
