Apple To Spend 750 Million In Galway

Wompa1

gandalf wrote: »

Oh I am intimately aware of the inner workings of a Datacentre

The thing that is getting me is the scale of this place. At 166,000 Square Metres it is huge. That is what has me thinking that between 50 - 100 employees is accurate. I suppose it depends on what kind of coverage they have for none office hours.

50 sounds about right for 24x7 coverage. I'd imagine if they have a canteen, security and cleaners. They will be outsourced. It would be a bit sly if they are counting outsourced positions in it

But the clarification stated 300 full time jobs. Which can't be right

gandalf

Wompa1 wrote: »

50 sounds about right for 24x7 coverage. I'd imagine if they have a canteen, security and cleaners. They will be outsourced. It would be a bit sly if they are counting outsourced positions in it

But the clarification stated 300 full time jobs. Which can't be right

Bear in mind there will be more facility workers than hands and eyes for servers.

I'd be surprised if they have a manned canteen for such a small number of workers.

Cleaners will be contractors.

Security will be outsourced and again it could be up to 50 given the scale of the campus and the fact they will have to have 24x7 coverage, they will have to have guys patrolling it.

The one gotcha is that they won't have the 12 buildings up and running in 2017. They will be built in a staggered fashion as pods. Each appears to be around 14,000 Square metres which is the size of the larger Datacentres in Ireland at the moment. It could be 5 years before they hit that full capacity.

Wompa1

gandalf wrote: »

Bear in mind there will be more facility workers than hands and eyes for servers.

I'd be surprised if they have a manned canteen for such a small number of workers.

Cleaners will be contractors.

Security will be outsourced and again it could be up to 50 given the scale of the campus and the fact they will have to have 24x7 coverage, they will have to have guys patrolling it.

The one gotcha is that they won't have the 12 buildings up and running in 2017. They will be build in a staggered fashion as pods. Each appears to be around 14,000 Square metres which is the size of the larger Datacentres in Ireland at the moment. It could be 5 years before they hit that full capacity.

That wouldn't account for 300, which is the figure that they've clarified on.

Isn't it also strange that it's exactly 300...I always take job announcements with a grain of salt.

gandalf

Wompa1 wrote: »

That wouldn't account for 300, which is the figure that they've clarified on.

Isn't it also strange that it's exactly 300...I always take job announcements with a grain of salt.

Yeah 300 is high, unless they are basing some office staff there as well.

Wompa1

gandalf wrote: »

Yeah 300 is high, unless they are basing some office staff there as well.

We're the fools though. No more than the 2% tax they've been paying, who knows what was conceeded in order to get this.

Cuddlesworth

gandalf wrote: »

Oh I am intimately aware of the inner workings of a Datacentre

The thing that is getting me is the scale of this place. At 166,000 Square Metres it is huge. That is what has me thinking that between 50 - 100 employees is accurate. I suppose it depends on what kind of coverage they have for none office hours.

It is huge, I hadn't noticed the size. Thats 40 acres of server space? So the site would have to be 80 acres? On coillte land too. And roughly 4 time size of their current largest datacenter.

I think the figures are being massaged on a few levels here. Or they are getting huge tax write offs.

gandalf

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

It is huge, I hadn't noticed the size. Thats 40 acres of server space? So the site would have to be 80 acres? On coillte land too. And roughly 4 time size of their current largest datacenter.

I think the figures are being massaged on a few levels here. Or they are getting huge tax write offs.

It is massive alright. Providing the architects mock up is correct we are talking about 12 datacentre buildings.

As you say there could be a bit of massaging going on. There is no mention of how much power it is going to use.

18MonthsaSlave

they can afford to use ultra low power processors so I'd expect power consumption to be mild. it isn't like anything they do uses much FPU.

ukoda

A lot of people going on about this showing how great Ireland and its Infastructure is (broadband etc)
Let's not forget that one of the main reasons for choosing Ireland is the climate.... Predictable temperatures that don't vary wildly. It's the perfect climate for datacenters.

A datacenter is a basically a massive storage shed. That's why they can put it in the back arse of nowhere, because it's not very important, doesn't require highly skilled people and basically runs itself. All it needs is electricity and Internet.

Don't get me wrong it's good for jobs etc. but it doesn't show that tech companies are investing in the west of Ireland.

Stheno

marklazarcovic wrote: »

im guessing the staff will have a canteen/kitchen ,fresh produce ..etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc

You're thinking of trendy IT like Google in the Docklands.

Datacentres are gloomy massive spaces, where machines are king and humans serve only to tend to the machines needs.

A break room - yes. A fancy canteen with fresh produce? No chance!

gandalf

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

they can afford to use ultra low power processors so I'd expect power consumption to be mild. it isn't like anything they do uses much FPU.

Yes but typically those processors are on high density pizza boxes or blade servers.

If you look at the average Rack power consumption 10 years ago it would have been around 3kW, in the last few years it is pushing to 6kW, these days they are hitting 12kW with some kit like high end SAN's and specialist Data Analytic s solutions needing 24kW.

ukoda wrote: »

A lot of people going on about this showing how great Ireland and its Infastructure is (broadband etc)
Let's not forget that one of the main reasons for choosing Ireland is the climate.... Predictable temperatures that don't vary wildly. It's the perfect climate for datacenters.

Totally we have the ideal environment for it.

A datacenter is a basically a massive storage shed. That's why they can put it in the back arse of nowhere, because it's not very important, doesn't require highly skilled people and basically runs itself. All it needs is electricity and Internet.

That is a very simplistic view. A Datacentre is actually a fascinating place. And while it looks like a shed it is a very sophisticated one that is designed to allow the equipment housed in it to keep running even if there is a power outage on the national grid and to have multiple comms providers. A typical tier III datacentre will have a uptime SLA of 99.999%. Basically it means they can have 26 seconds of downtime over 30 days.

Don't get me wrong it's good for jobs etc. but it doesn't show that tech companies are investing in the west of Ireland.

As pointed out above it isn't great for jobs in itself. Although a 100-150 jobs in the Athenry area will make a major difference to that town.

The fact it is being set up in the area will mean that the infrastructure locally and probably around Galway will be dragged up as well.

Aongus Von Bismarck

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

Hundreds of jobs during its construction. I can't imagine a data centre needs hundreds of employees. Unless they intend to power the centre by having red-faced Galwegians furiously pedalling fixed bicycles.
'Faster Paddy Joe, someone is creating an iTunes account'.

They are all called Mattie did you not know? *

*Only kidding Galwegians

ukoda

gandalf wrote: »

That is a very simplistic view. A Datacentre is actually a fascinating place. And while it looks like a shed it is a very sophisticated one that is designed to allow the equipment housed in it to keep running even if there is a power outage on the national grid and to have multiple comms providers. A typical tier III datacentre will have a uptime SLA of 99.999%. Basically it means they can have 26 seconds of downtime over 30 days

The fact it is being set up in the area will mean that the infrastructure locally and probably around Galway will be dragged up as well.

Just pointing out that they aren't setting up a datacenter in Galway to tap into the highly skilled workforce or because Galway is inviting for tech giants. The main reason is the climate and the need for a massive field. It doesn't make Galway suddenly an attractive tech hub. And any jobs are welcome

gandalf

ukoda wrote: »

Just pointing out that they aren't setting up a datacenter in Galway to tap into the highly skilled workforce or because Galway is inviting for tech giants. The main reason is the climate and the need for a massive field. It doesn't make Galway suddenly an attractive tech hub. And any jobs are welcome

The power infrastructure is also very stable in Ireland which is a factor too. This monster could consume between 50mW to 100mW of power (or maybe higher) so it will necessitate some major upgrades. I am assuming that the amount of power it needed was also a reason to base it away from Dublin. That along with the fact a couple of new fibre links to the US have landed on the West coast in recent times.

You're right a lot of Datacentre jobs would be considered entry level. But I know of quite a number of graduates who can't get their foot on the ladder and these type of jobs are ideal for giving someone experience. Plus if they are mobile they will more than likely have the opportunity to move upwards within one of the top IT companies in the world.

ukoda

gandalf wrote: »

The power infrastructure is also very stable in Ireland which is a factor too. This monster could consume between 50mW to 100mW of power (or maybe higher) so it will necessitate some major upgrades. I am assuming that the amount of power it needed was also a reason to base it away from Dublin. That along with the fact a couple of new fibre links to the US have landed on the West coast in recent times.

You're right a lot of Datacentre jobs would be considered entry level. But I know of quite a number of graduates who can't get their foot on the ladder and these type of jobs are ideal for giving someone experience. Plus if they are mobile they will more than likely have the opportunity to move upwards within one of the top IT companies in the world.

Isn't it going to be powered by its own renewable generation? I don't think the local area grid will be impacted very much

jimgoose

I for one welcome our new Skynet overlords, even if they are Segway-riding californian twits. Big Data is always kudos. These rigs don't employ huge numbers, 'tis true, but you'll have a gang of security staff and rack-and-cable primates, as well as possibly a handful of engineers working on/with things like SoftLayer, Hadoop, Docker, etc.

Grayson wrote: »

3 of those have huge facilities in Dublin. IBM, SAP and HP. Oracle used to be in Dundalk. Are they still there?
How big are these facilities? is it a division like dell hand with manufacturing in one location and admin/PM/CS in Dublin?

The IBM facility at Dangan in Galway is incorporated under IBM Ireland PDL, and functionally part of the SWG division. It does software development/R&D. That facility and the one at the Airport Business Park in Cork were formerly Vallent Technologies Ltd, acquired by IBM in 2007.

jimgoose

ukoda wrote: »

Isn't it going to be powered by its own renewable generation? I don't think the local area grid will be impacted very much

I don't know about "renewable", but usually facilities like this have their own substations taking a high-tension supply from the grid and outputting the various three-phase, etc. feeds for UPS and so forth.

twin_beacon

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

they spin that like it's a good thing? I don't see how destroying a productive commercial forest (and carbon sink) in favour a facility that is a massive energy sink and heat producer is a great idea. but as usual, "we wern't moar jobzz" is all that really matters to Ireland Inc.

its not a productive commercial forest, the trees have been harvested.

jimgoose

gandalf wrote: »

...But I know of quite a number of graduates who can't get their foot on the ladder and these type of jobs are ideal for giving someone experience. Plus if they are mobile they will more than likely have the opportunity to move upwards within one of the top IT companies in the world.

Correct. If you want to do Big-Iron these days, facilities like this are where to do it. Couple of years of that and you're on the way. Not everyone in IT is particularly interested in sitting on a bean-bag in a trendy part of the Dublin inventing the next Twitter.

twin_beacon

jesus you cant please some people. its 300 construction jobs for around 18 months, then 100 jobs in the data centre after that. For a town like Athenry this is a big deal.

people complaining about the tax issue, read this http://www.irishtimes.com/business/apple-s-decision-to-build-in-fields-of-athenry-is-a-big-win-for-ida-ireland-1.2113919

gandalf

According to this article in the Indo they estimate the power at 356mW which is massive. However I know the source of the estimate so I'd take it with a pinch of salt. Surprised that Apple didn't release that stat.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/apples-new-irish-data-centre-everything-you-need-to-know-31015930.html

ukoda

jimgoose wrote: »

I don't know about "renewable", but usually facilities like this have their own substations taking a high-tension supply from the grid and outputting the various three-phase, etc. feeds for UPS and so forth.

http://m.independent.ie/business/technology/apples-data-centre-plan-sparks-antiwind-protest-31016512.html

And it's already attracting protest

jimgoose

ukoda wrote: »

http://m.independent.ie/business/technology/apples-data-centre-plan-sparks-antiwind-protest-31016512.html

And it's already attracting protest

Mmm. Given that the output of the hydroelectric installation down the road at Ardnacrusha is 86MW, good luck with that. They're going to need a lot of UPS batteries. :pac:

CrowdedHouse

There's a 400MW station down the road in Tynagh

jimgoose

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

There's a 400MW station down the road in Tynagh

Oh, I know. Sounds like they're going to need it! All messing aside, the ESB are used to dealing with this sort of thing. In the old days the electric-arc furnaces at Irish Steel presented a bigger headache for them than the kettle-break during the middle of Corrie, drawing something in the vicinity of 500 kwH per ton of steel smelted.

It seems to me that bringing your own wind-turbines or biomass employee excrement recyclers for every new enterprise sort of defeats the purpose of a national grid, but what would I know! :pac:

gandalf

gandalf wrote: »

According to this article in the Indo they estimate the power at 356mW which is massive. However I know the source of the estimate so I'd take it with a pinch of salt. Surprised that Apple didn't release that stat.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/apples-new-irish-data-centre-everything-you-need-to-know-31015930.html

Careful of your units, it's MW, 300mW wouldn't charge your phone.

Also they said on the news last night the plan is to work with local renewable energy providers to power the centre. Wind energy being one of the things highlighted and there is a major supplier of wind turbines based in Athenry, C&F energy so this could lead to more jobs also for the area.

gandalf

Huxley Unimportant Timber wrote: »

Careful of your units, it's MW, 300mW wouldn't charge your phone.

Also they said on the news last night the plan is to work with local renewable energy providers to power the centre. Wind energy being one of the things highlighted and there is a major supplier of wind turbines based in Athenry, C&F energy so this could lead to more jobs also for the area.

LOL thanks always gets me

That could be where they are coming with the 300 jobs total with direct employees, on site contractors and off site jobs involved in power generation.

tobdom

The planning has been lodged......

eplanning.ie/GalwayePlan/FileRefDetails.aspx?file_number=15488&LASiteID=0

ukoda

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/apple-seeks-green-energy-projects-to-power-850m-galway-data-centre-1.2192569

They want renewables

Dardania

Planning has been granted.

Soon, my Apple TV will stream just that bit faster!