Edible Apple

Forget terabytes, you’re not really ballin’ unless you’re dealing with petabytes – and that’s exactly how Apple rolls. StorageNewsletter is reporting that Apple recently placed an enormous order for 12 petabytes (that’s 12,000 terabytes) of storage support from Isilon Systems. Based out of Seattle, Isilon currently boasts over 1,500 clients and markets clustered storage systems and software for digital content. An inside source relays that Apple plans to use the storage to “manage the video download of its customers using iTunes.”

Apple’s purchase is especially interesting in light of its massive data center in North Carolina which is scheduled to open up sometime soon. Apple reportedly wants to use the data center, which easily dwarfs similar offerings from companies like Google and Microsoft, to support services tied into iTunes and MobileMe. There have also been rumblings that the data center will be integrated into Apple’s iTunes/MobileMe strategy as a colud-based solution that would provide users streaming access to their purchased content. This type of service however would require Apple to secure additional licenses from record labels, which you can imagine is no small feat given the distrust many labels have built up for Apple over the years.

But with rumblings that a MobileMe update may be free to users, we’ll have to wait and see what kind of surprises Apple has in store