Apple has reportedly ordered as much as 12 petabytes, or 12,000 terabytes, of additional storage for hosting video content on its iTunes Store.

Apple placed the order with Isilon Systems for videos on iTunes, according to StorageNewsletter.com. The information was attributed to an "inside source" at EMC, which announced its intention to acquire Isilon for $2.25 billion in late 2010.

Headquartered in Seattle, Wash., Isilon designs and sells clustered storage systems and software for digital content. It was founded in 2001.

In acquiring Isilon, EMC said it would use the storage infrastructure technology to help support cloud computing services. Apple has been long rumored to be working on its own "digital locker" service for cloud-based storage of media and content, allowing users to stream music and download images from a centralized server. However, Wednesday's report made no mention of the 12 petabytes being used for cloud services.

Apple's deal with Isilon was said to "probably" make the iPhone maker the largest customer of the storage provider. Other clients of Isilon include Ancestry.com, Clear Channel, MySpace, NBC Universal, Sony, World Wrestling Entertainment, XM Satellite Radio.

Isilon is also reportedly set to introduce a new line of hardware and software on April 11. It will be powered by the Isilon OneFS 6.5 operating system.