Apple live streaming music event to test new data center?

Cult of Mac claims a source has told them Apple is live streaming today’s special music event as a way to test their massive new, North Carolina data center, set to go fully operational later this year.

Apple’s first live video broadcast in years is a test of the server farm’s ability to stream a future version of iTunes for iOS devices, our tipster says.

“The goal is to monitor traffic load and quality,” says our tipster, who asked to remain anonymous to preserve their connections at Apple.

Apple product events are the Oscars or Superbowls of the Internet, with traffic numbers high enough to take down the biggest sites, and sometimes entire data centers (plural). So if they’re going to test something as bandwidth intensive as video, does it make sense to test it under the harshest conditions imaginable?

Either way, we’ll find out soon enough how it holds up. Hey, why not watch along with us?

[Cult of Mac]