Apple spending $2 billion on two European data centers running on 100 percent renewable energy

[Victorious Secret]

 

Well, Apple seems to have figured out what to spend some of their fortune on: data centres! 

 

These will house their cloud systems for Europe and give Apple the benefit of telling the US to pound sand in information requests, since technically speaking the servers, data and users are not American and thus the US would have a fun time convincing the EU to hand over anything, so call it a win for consumer privacy. 

 

Its also a push towards remaining environmentally sustainable for the future, companies this large are better poised to do something about staying efficient and its nice to see some companies take that more seriously these days. 

 

Apple has announced plans worth €1.7 billion ($1.93 billion) to construct two new data centers in Europe. Each facility will be run using 100 percent renewable energy and will provide online services such as iTunes, iMessages, and Siri for Apple customers in Europe. The data centers are being built in Athenry in western Ireland and in Viborg in central Denmark, with both sites expected to be operational by 2017.

 

"We are grateful for Apple’s continued success in Europe and proud that our investment supports communities across the continent," said Apple CEO Tim Cook. "This significant new investment represents Apple’s biggest project in Europe to date. We’re thrilled to be expanding our operations, creating hundreds of local jobs and introducing some of our most advanced green building designs yet."

 

Building data centers in Europe not only allows Apple to get rid of some of its foreign cash while creating local good will — it also put the company in a better position for defending users' data privacy. In the last couple of years there has been a surge in European data centers being built by US firms, with companies reacting to concerns that data stored on American soil will simply be hoovered by the NSA. Paul Nemitz, a director in the European Commission’s Justice Unit, described the uptick in new sites as "proof" that Europe was "becoming a trust center for data."

http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/23/8089311/apple-european-data-centers-nearly-2-billion

[Nup]

I really like this continuous push toward consumer privacy. Very nice to see.

The industry is slowing shifting its ways! 

 

renewable energy is cool too. 

 

Thanks for sharing. 

[Guest]

"JUST A PR STUNT, WAY TO GO APPLE"

- this forum

 

For real though, this is awesome.

[AxelRantila]

Nice to see Apple pushing towards renewable energy!

[MrSuperb]

These will house their cloud systems for Europe and give Apple the benefit of telling the US to pound sand in information requests, since technically speaking the servers, data and users are not American and thus the US would have a fun time convincing the EU to hand over anything, so call it a win for consumer privacy.

Isn't the US government already trying to do exactly this, i.e. forcing US companies to handover data from their foreign/EU servers?

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240219656/Cloud-privacy-fears-loom-as-US-judge-asks-Microsoft-to-hand-over-data-held-in-Dublin

[cesrai]

"JUST A PR STUNT, WAY TO GO APPLE"

- this forum

 

For real though, this is awesome.

Nope if anyone does that I will start an argument with them.

---

Victor some of the text is in black.

[Victorious Secret]

Isn't the US government already trying to do exactly this, i.e. forcing US companies to handover data from their foreign/EU servers?

 

Trying, but they have no legal ground when these companies hold a lot of their assets abroad as well. 

The NSA et al are pushy, sure BUT so is Wall Street who arguably holds as much power and can keep them at bay.

[cesrai]

Isn't the US government already trying to do exactly this, i.e. forcing US companies to handover data from their foreign/EU servers?

Yes, that's true but MS is still fighting, I remember MS fighting agiast it because there were asked to hand data from an European country I believe it was Finland - not sure -.

[patrickjp93]

Anyone really buy the privacy crap? The EU capitulates quite often, and usually it is a criminal matter when they do, and usually the matter results in a legitimate arrest. People are angry when governments react to problems instead of being proactive, and then when it comes to crimes over the web or where planning happens over the web, they get mad that web traffic is being sniffed. It's so hypocritical.

[MrSuperb]

Trying, but they have no legal ground when these companies hold a lot of their assets abroad as well. 

The NSA et al are pushy, sure BUT so is Wall Street who arguably holds as much power and can keep them at bay.

Yes, that's true but MS is still fighting, I remember MS fighting agiast it because there were asked to hand data from an European country I believe it was Finland - not sure -.

The court ruled, that they have to hand over data held on Microsoft servers in Dublin, Ireland.

Microsoft appealed ... so this is still ongoing.

[Prikk]

Plot Twist

 

Hipsters' blood is the renewable energy.

[MrSuperb]

Anyone really buy the privacy crap? The EU capitulates quite often, and usually it is a criminal matter when they do, and usually the matter results in a legitimate arrest. People are angry when governments react to problems instead of being proactive, and then when it comes to crimes over the web or where planning happens over the web, they get mad that web traffic is being sniffed. It's so hypocritical.

you really buy the crap, that the data collected by the NSA and other agencies is only used to prevent or investigate crimes?

How naive are you? The legitimation for all this bullshit is still terrorism. It is far more likely to die from cancer or in a traffic accident, then being a victim of a terrorist attack ...

[cesrai]

you really buy the crap, that the data collected by the NSA and other agencies is only used to prevent or investigate crimes?

How naive are you? The legitimation for all this bullshit is still terrorism. It is far more likely to die from cancer or in a traffic accident, then being a victim of a terrorist attack ...

Prove it, the chance of dying .....

[MrSuperb]

Prove it, the chance of dying .....

according to the washington post it is about 1:20,000,000 chance to die from a terrorist attack.

here a graph for reference:

 

[cesrai]

according to the washington post it is about 1:20,000,000 chance to die from a terrorist attack.

here a graph for reference:

source please, also sopiler.

[MrSuperb]

source please, also sopiler.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/11/nine-facts-about-terrorism-in-the-united-states-since-911/

[cesrai]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/11/nine-facts-about-terrorism-in-the-united-states-since-911/

Thanks.

[patrickjp93]

you really buy the crap, that the data collected by the NSA and other agencies is only used to prevent or investigate crimes?

How naive are you? The legitimation for all this bullshit is still terrorism. It is far more likely to die from cancer or in a traffic accident, then being a victim of a terrorist attack ...

Yes, but terrorism costs everyone money and time, not just a few hundred lives. There are costs very few people are seeing. Not everything the US government does is evil, and not everything it does is good.

[MrSuperb]

Yes, but terrorism costs everyone money and time, not just a few hundred lives. There are costs very few people are seeing. Not everything the US government does is evil, and not everything it does is good.

 

also spending billions of dollars on intelligence agencies costs every US citizen a whole lot of  money. Theses costs are almost always justified with anti-terrorism, but why then do they spy on other countries politicians, on the UN, steal information from foreign companies?

[patrickjp93]

also spending billions of dollars on intelligence agencies costs every US citizen a whole lot of  money. Theses costs are almost always justified with anti-terrorism, but why then do they spy on other countries politicians, on the UN, steal information from foreign companies?

Countries have been spying on each other for defensive purposes since the middle ages. If there was a coalition of countries planning a run on US banks, it might be beneficial to find out about it. Russia tried to get China to do just that back in 2008 and send the US into total financial collapse. 

 

Stealing information from foreign companies and giving it to ours makes ours more competitive and helps our economy. Duh.

[mr moose]

I've always maintained that the best way to save the environment is to make it financially appealing for big business to legitimately invest in green tech.  They are the only ones with the resources and time to actually do something about it. 

[Denned]

I'm living pretty close by one of the datacenters. Would be pretty cool to get a job there!

[Hasleo]

And here we all in Ireland and Denmark sit thinking humm that is nice, but wow why 166000 square meteres?? in Denmark of all places, i mean FE and PET of denmark are sure to sneak peek into that sh*t and makey makey a lot of money say hello to privacy ;-/ so is MI6 in britain... 

 

good luck with "green" energy 

[Norman_the_Owl]

Yes, that's true but MS is still fighting, I remember MS fighting agiast it because there were asked to hand data from an European country I believe it was Finland - not sure -.

Ireland

[WereCat]

Meanwhile my country spent 300 million € on 2 data centers in two cities just to send word documents.