Five Questions to Insight: Kevin Timmons of Yahoo

As part of the second installment of Data Center leaders in the industry, I sit down (virtually) with Kevin Timmons of Yahoo.  Kevin is the Vice President in charge of the infrastructure build-out for the grand-daddy of web portals.  

There has been a lot of buzz recently about your interest in Omaha, Nebraska for a potential data center site location.  Can you share some of the things you look for in site selection and why Omaha is rising to prominence?

Kevin Timmons: We spend a lot of time on site selection. We do this because frankly the selection of the location of these investments is one of the only things that you just can’t change after it’s built. We can upgrade to improve efficiencies as our designs evolve, we can continue to push for better power/network/server economics, but the one thing that we can’t change is the piece of dirt it sits on. So we’ve established a systematic process that takes some 30+ factors into consideration to point us to our most ideal location. Some of the most obvious factors are those that turn out to be the highest cost drivers – things like current and projected energy cost, fiber availability and pricing, state and local incentive packages, construction costs, and the area’s weather data and carbon intensity.  

As for Omaha, we don’t talk about potential data center sites unless and until they become reality. But Nebraska has a lot going for it, I’ll just say that. 

Yahoo has been pretty busy on the ‘Green’ stage with Christina Pages efforts mostly around reducing Carbon.  What are you doing in the data center space around overall energy efficiency.

Kevin Timmons: Lots. We’ve got patent pending cooling technology that virtually eliminates our need for air handling within the datacenter. As you probably know, that’s a huge savings in overall cost to operate the facility. We also make liberal use of outside air to cool our facilities, which means we’re effectively cooling our centers at a very low cost for a significant portion of the year. We love it when the chillers are off.

Speaking of energy efficiency can you share any interesting ways that Yahoo is approaching management and measurement?  Are you using PUE? DCIE? CADE? or anything of the like?  If so, care to share any information around that?

Kevin Timmons: We closely measure our overall efficiency of each center using PUE. We’ve monitored it for years, calling it “cost to cool”, but the term PUE is in fashion within the industry so PUE it is. We’ve designed and built some of the industry’s most efficient data centers and we’re very proud of our accomplishments in this area. We’ve got one center now that is routinely measured at a PUE of 1.18 and some others that are very close to that.  

Your competition in the cloud services space seems to have moved to self-build and construction.  Yahoo seems to be diversifying its investments that includes both leasing and self construction.  How do you decide when to go one route versus the other?

Kevin Timmons: In short, we do whatever makes the most sense given the financials and demand forecast for any given site. We’ve gotten pretty good at designing, building and operating some of the most efficient and cost effective data centers in the world so if timeframes allow we look at that as our first option. We also have excellent partners lined up when leasing makes more sense from a timing or demand projection standpoint. 

What advice would you give to Data Center Managers just beginning a program around managing efficiency in their environments.  Whats most important in your mind?

Kevin Timmons:

Good question. I’d say:

a) become a member of the green grid (http://www.thegreengrid.org). Lots of resources to help you get started.

b) Start at the design phase if you have the opportunity to do so. Focus on economizing, air or water side depending upon your environment.

c) Get a handle on your cold (or hot) air. Figure out a way to keep them from mixing. You can do this quite economically even in existing installations by using plastic curtains.

d) Measure your results by calculating before and after PUE, even if it’s on a spreadsheet. No need to start with sophisticated monitoring systems. Evangelize what it means to run your datacenters more efficiently with your executive team. Put it to them in terms of dollars saved.

Personally I think its wonderful to get this level of insight from the largest firms in the industry especially when it comes to BIG INFRASTRUCTURE.  Thank you Mr. Timmons for your leadership in this space!