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Apple confirms plans for Oregon data center, outlines green initiatives

Apple is indeed planning to build another large data center to complement the …

Apple's massive North Carolina data center is apparently only the beginning when it comes to handling the deluge of content traffic flowing through Apple's servers. The company has now confirmed that it has plans to build another large data center in Prineville, Oregon, continuing the green efforts that it initiated with its east coast facility.

The news came via Oregon news station KTVZ, which was following up on rumors from December about the project as Apple spokesperson Kristin Huguet confirmed that Apple had indeed purchased the land for the data center. Huguet declined to offer any further details about Apple's plans, but KTVZ says the property's price tag was $5.6 million and the deed was signed by county commissioners on February 15. The location for the new 160-acre data center is said to be a "stone's throw" away from another large facility owned by Facebook.

Before Apple publicly acknowledged its North Carolina facility, rumors spread for years about what the company was planning to do with it. As it turned out, the NC data center ended up powering iCloud—which launched in October with iOS 5—and Apple began talking about its plans build a 171-panel solar farm to help run it. Apple's Oregon data center is expected to boast similar green efforts, but no details have been offered. Apple just laid out this week some of the other green initiatives it's taking in North Carolina, so it's likely we'll see some of those same elements carried over to the facility in the Beaver State.

Channel Ars Technica