Now That's Big Data: Apple Orders 12 Petabytes of Storage Gear From EMC | Arik Hesseldahl | NewEnterprise | AllThingsD

Apple has ordered as much as 12 petabytes worth of data storage from EMC unit Isilon Systems, according to a thinly sourced report on StorageNewsletter.com.

The order is said to coincide with the forthcoming release of a new product that Isilon is expected to announce next week.

So huge an order for data storage would coincide with the construction of Apple’s huge data center in Maiden, N.C., and that’s expected to be the hub for a new version of iTunes that relies more on storing media in the cloud and less on using its customers local hard drives.

If you have trouble getting your head around the petabyte, the fine folks at another EMC unit, the backup service Mozy (soon to be a unit of VMWare) produced this fascinating graphic. As they tell it, one petabyte is enough to store more than 13.3 years worth of HD video, meaning 12 petabytes would be enough to store nearly 160 years worth.

Oh yes, Apple will be offering streaming media from the cloud very very soon.