Apple is joining forces with China-based Inspur to bring its cloud-based services in-house
Apple is reportedly working with a Chinese server vendor called Inspur in a bid to bring its cloud-based infastructure in-house, rather than using products from competing companies, a recent report claims.
The benefits of powering its iCloud services in-house are numerous.
The news comes from hit-and-miss publication DigiTimes (via 9to5mac), and indeed notes that Apple is currently aiming to reduce iCloud's reliance on products supplied by rival companies. At the minute, Apple's cloud offerings use products from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and Google, because Apple doesn't have the server capabilities to run its own products directly. However, this could be set to change, with Cupertino reportedly joining forces with China-based Inspur in order to bring about the move.
Currently, Apple mainly uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) for its datacenter need, but the company is considering establishing its own datacenters to satisfy increasing demand and reduce expenses.
The benefits of powering iCloud services in-house are of course numerous: not only does this provide Apple with greater independence, but it'll also reduce cost and provide tigher security measures for the company. Inspur currently has more than a 60 percent share in the Chinese server market, and according to DigiTimes, Microsoft, Intel, IBM, and more are all counted among its clients.
Apple's iCloud suite has grown and grown in recent years: in particular, iOS 9 saw the release of a standalone iCloud Drive app, and this has had a huge impact on my iOS workflows since September. As more and more of us work from iOS with limited internal storage (despite Apple offering a 256GB iPad, this is nevertheless the direction we're all moving in), it's never been more important to have a range of robust, reliable cloud services that allow users to manage their personal and professional lives.
This most recent news, then, points towards a promising future for iCloud and its many services. We'll keep you updated with further information as we receive it.