14 DAY TRIAL // In what would corroborate rumors that Apple plans to launch an online digital locker for MobileMe customers’ photos, music, and videos, the company has reportedly ordered as much as 12 petabytes of storage from Isilon Systems.
12 Petabytes equals 12 thousand terabytes, or 12 million gigabytes.
Specifically targeted at video, the order is likely the largest of 1,500 customers of Isilon Systems, according to Storage Newsletter.
The report mentions the purchase as a certain fact, stating “Apple ordered as much as 12PB of capacity from Isilon Systems, notably to manage the video download of its customers using iTunes.”
The information reportedly comes from an inside source of the new division of EMC.
As noted above, Apple is rumored to prepare the launch of an online digital locker service targeting MobileMe subscribers.
The locker would allow users to store personal data such as photos, music, and videos, either for a monthly fee, or for free as some reports would indicate.
Should the service (if eventually confirmed) be free, it would most likely be exclusive to Apple customers (i.e. those owning at least one supported hardware product from the company).
Plans requiring a fee, likely cheaper than the current $99-a-year subscription, would probably target non-Apple customers too.
Finally, there could be paid plans available to everyone for a higher-capacity storage service, similar to the Dropbox business model.
Last month, a source working in education reportedly leaked Apple’s plans to launch the service as early as this month.
According to that person, the school’s supplier said that Apple was suggesting to students to sign up for the 60-day trial version of MobileMe, likely to get acquainted with the service in advance.
As noted last month by Softpedia, there have been many indications that Apple is swapping the current MobileMe with a revolutionary new service.
The company’s first move has been to discontinue boxed copies of the purchasable service. Most recently, the Mac maker moved the entire service online.