Written by: Pete Jones / CDO and Founder at Yondr12 July 2019
Thoughts: Microsoft’s take on energy
Written by: Pete Jones / CDO and Founder at Yondr 12 July 2019
Ever wondered how hyperscale end users see the energy world? I was lucky today to get some great insights today from Jim Collins at Microsoft during his fireside chat at DCD San Francisco.
Some key points from the session were:
Energy cost today is still the dominant part of data center TCO on a medium term time horizon
Low cost gas and renewables penetration have been disruptors in the energy world and neither were foreseen. It’s important to take a long term position and know what factors break the economics when considering location strategy
Jim and his team are working with utilities to get to a marginal cost based price structure, rather than traditional forms of market based pricing separated from the underlying costs
He’s very open minded about leased vs owned facilities. The test should be “do I have control” – if the answer is yes then the means are less important
Microsoft has collaborated with a utility in Wyoming where they have used natural gas turbines at the datacenter in place of standby diesel machines. The utility can then call on these for fast start demand response in peak times.
There is real opportunity to have a more joined up collaborative world where utilities and data centers leverage battery and generation capacity rather than duplication and siloed thinking which prevails today.
If you get the chance to hear Jim talk I’d highly recommend it!
At an exclusive Q&A event for Yondr clients, Rory Steyn, Nelson Mandela’s former personal protection team leader, provided some insights into his time working with the South African president and shared key security principles that could be applied to our industry.
[PART 3] Gender Parity in Gen-Z: What does it mean and why do we care?
This series explores the perspectives and insights of three bright Gen Zers on what gender parity means to them, how to evolve today’s workplace and what can individuals do to improve gender parity across the workplace.
[PART 2] Gender Parity in Gen-Z: What does it mean and why do we care?
In this second part, Holly Barons, Paige Hansen and Demi Carpatorea share their thoughts on acknowledging gender concerns in the workplace, how organisations can strive to meet gender equality goals and maximise talents across all genders.
Inside the Y-Suite: what it’s like to be young at Yondr
Yondr recognises how digital literacy can democratise operations, and create diverse opportunities for all. The Y-Suite has played a major role in encouraging the wider use of these collaborative tools to ensure everyone’s voice is heard.
In honor of Women in Engineering Day, the Yondr team would like to acknowledge our very own Jihoo Woo, a Technical Program Manager for Yondr in the Americas.
Seamless data center project delivery starts with a health and safety mindset
There’s one question every client asks us before starting a project: Why should we choose you over the competition? Here’s how we answer that: At Yondr, our speed to delivery is lightning quick. We have extensive in-house capabilities. We’re home to some of the most skilled and experienced people in the industry.
Data centers are now part of our critical infrastructure. They are integral to the daily operations of government, business and society at large, as important to our lives as energy and water supply.
At the beginning of the century, data storage was an analogue affair. Photo albums contained precious memories, a ringbinder held monthly bank statements, and when the boss asked you to share a document with him, you’d navigate to the office filing cabinet for a paper copy.
Like a salted peanut stuck in your left back molar, the faceless jurisdiction of binary decision making is uncomfortable, rarely the best use of resources and unlikely to result in the best outcome for complex projects.
Host Athina Koligkioni speaks to European Operations Director, Sergio Pereira from cabling specialist company, Rellium. They chat about Sergio’s start in the industry, and his take on the future of data.
Setting sail: The astonishing skill and strength of character needed to compete in a solo race around the world
Yondr is sponsoring sailor Pip Hare to compete in the Vendée Globe race, one of the world’s toughest endurance events. We asked Pip to share her story as she enters her final weeks of training for what promises to be an incredible journey. Over to you Pip!
The future of data center delivery – 2021 and beyond
The delivery of data center infrastructure was evolving well before the pandemic. Project timelines have long been squeezed - to as little as six months in some cases. Placing the industry under increasing pressure to work faster and more productively to deliver for its customers.
We're back again for day two at DCD Singapore. Join our Chief Development Officer, Pete Jones, as he talks to special guests Ben Freedman from the MLM Group, and Dan Kennedy at Tate Inc. The Yondr team also give their one line summaries of the event.
From apprentice to global operations director — how an apprenticeship changed my life
Born and raised in London’s East End, I definitely wasn’t the smartest kid. I applied for 50-odd positions and was granted three interviews, one of which was for a technician’s apprenticeship with the Post Office.
Critical spaces from scratch in a year – how Yondr does it
There’s no such thing as being a single moment late. If a data center isn’t completed on time, it will be delayed for months or there will be serious consequences for other projects no amount of money can fix.
Now, we all know there’s nothing sexy about data center operations. And you only hear about operations when something goes horribly wrong. So as we manoeuvre through the pandemic, whatever the crisis throws at us, we know any new processes and procedures we introduce need to remain simple.
The paper sets out the very clear and compelling case for hybrid cloud adoption and recommends how companies and teams need to evolve to get their decision making right, choosing which workloads to put where, when the fork in the road arrives.
We are now several weeks into COVID-19 lockdown measures. The initial wave of enforced changes to work and living routines is behind us, and the world is slowly adjusting to the idea that we’re in this for the long haul.
It was a fast decision made by the senior leadership team on the day, based on the facts we had. We pushed it out via all our internal channels. We recorded a video explaining the decision, sent everyone an email, published blog posts and sent SMS messages, so everyone knew. With 20/20 hindsight, I’m glad we did.
Yondr attended the Pacific Telecommunications Council in Honolulu, Hawaii for the first time this year. As venues go, this was one we were quite excited by!
Join our CDO Pete Jones for an interview with Simon Allen, Executive Director at Infrastructure Masons. They caught up during some downtime at last October's Data Center Dynamics in Dallas. Listen on for discussions on Simon's unique data center insights, workforce, technical innovations and the future of the industry.
Infrastructure investors are in part expanding their scope to support the sector, but not in full. This is proposed as being owed to infrastructure such as roads, tunnels and bridges with “tolls” going one way...in data centers, we typically pay penalties for poor performance.
Picking up a copy of the FT while travelling back from Asia last week, I was struck by the notion of the editor. To secure the front and back pages, and inside cover with an announcement that our system and markets need to change deeply resonated with me.
The provision of a recognised scoring system for data centers (such as LEED) could be a ‘powerful’ (very poor pun) addition to our sector. We as developers, operators, builders and tenants must embrace such initiatives.
This Yondr Podcast comes to you from the Data Center Dynamics conference in Singapore. Join Pete, Matt, Andy and others to discuss the event's hottest topics.
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