Apple plans high speed data network to ensure speedier delivery of iTunes content and other data and take on third party service providers like Google Fiber and Facebook
Apple is reportedly planning to give a new look to its data centers and build its own high-speed data network to improve performance of services like its music streaming offering, videos and other content to its users and better compete with rival cloud services.
Bloomberg reported quoting an anonymous source that the company is building its own long-haul network to transport traffic between its US data centers and increasing its use of customized commodity hardware as opposed to off-the-shelf IT products.
Citing people familiar with the plans, Bloomberg said Apple wants to reduce its dependency on providers like Microsoft and Amazon. It will connect data centers in , Nevada, California, Oregon, North Carolina, and other locations, “to get content closer to Internet hubs in some densely populated markets.” Data would then go through cell towers and broadband connections from carriers and cable companies, said Bloomberg. In addition, Bloomberg also said that Apple has been working on a way to transmit data through fiber lines at hundreds of gigabits per second.
In February, the tech giant had announced plans to change its Arizona-based sapphire production plant into an all-green data center that will be powered with 100 percent renewable energy and employ 150 full-time people.
Bloomberg said Apple is not likely to replace the hundreds and thousands of machines in its current data centers and will use more of its own, third-party designed equipment at new facilities, of which two are planned for Denmark and Ireland.
Apple users by downloading iTunes content and using iCloud to store and sync their personal files already chew up network data streams. According to Bloomberg, the end game for Apple is to combine its data centers and networks into “one highly automated system,” which would be useful if and when Apple launches a streaming music service.
On Monday, Apple will reportedly announce its own music streaming music service at its Worldwide Developers Conference, thus putting more responsibility on the company to provide the necessary network bandwidth. Over the years, reports have been doing the rounds that Apple wants to start its own online TV service. With all that potential data, Apple doesn’t want its users getting stuck into traffic jams, hence a potential need to build its own network.
Owning the network that connects its data centers will give Apple more control over the quality of services it delivers to its customers than it has now, using network-carrier services.
“User experience is very important to Apple, but delivery of its content is the one part of that experience it doesn’t control,” Andrew Schmitt, an analyst at IHS Infonetics Research, told Bloomberg. “If they want to control and maximize that user experience, they’re going to have to control that last piece.”
Competitors like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook have also been spending huge amount on data centers. Facebook got its fourth owned-and-operated data center up and running late last year in Altoona, Iowa, and three others are situated in North Carolina, Oregon and Sweden.
