MacRumors spotted an interesting report by Data Center Knowledge claiming Kevin Timmons, Microsoft’s former high-ranked exec in charge of their worldwide data center operations, is expected to take a “leadership” position. Prior to spending two years at Microsoft, Timmons worked at GeoCities and Yahoo for nearly a decade.
Data Center Knowledge explains:
MacRumors warns the development raises questions about Timmons’ capacity at Apple:
Apple must have offered big bucks to hire away Timmons from Microsoft…
Such a high-profile hire indicates that Apple’s upcoming $1 billion datacenter in North Carolina will serve other purposes beyond driving iTunes and MobileMe services.
Latest images indicate that the facility doubled in size. Apple said it would come online this Spring, but it could be already operational for all we know.
Let’s not forget the company apparently ordered 12 million Gigabytes of storage. Analysts have been whispering about Apple’s entrance into the Netflix-dominated video-on-demand business for some time.
The latest report speculated that Apple could be building a number of super datacenters across the US and in Europe to support the video rental business. iTunes television channels, bulk TV subscriptions and live programming are all in the cards, as well as an Apple-branded television set to jumpstart the business.
An aerial view of the new Apple datacenter in Maiden, North Carolina. It allegedly doubled in size and cannot be found on Google Maps.
