Yahoo's "Chicken Coop" Data Center Design

1sockchuck writes "Yahoo has come up with a data center design called the Yahoo Computing Coop, which it says will make its new data center in Lockport, NY one of the most efficient on earth. The design features 120-foot by 60-foot metal prefabricated facilities with louvers on the side to support free cooling, and a peaked roof to manage the release of waste heat from the hot aisle. Chief Yahoo David Filo said the name was adopted 'because it looks like something chickens live in.' The $150 million data center in Western New York, which was announced earlier today, will run on cheap hydro power from the Niagara River."

Comments

Hot Air

[Kotoku]

Well with a roof like that, I guess at least they can say Yahoo isn't full of hot air.

But when you start getting power from the falls, you might be all washed up.

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. Tip your Waitress.

Re:Hot Air

[Kotoku]

They've got a green light to go ahead with that plan.

Re:Hot Air

[TapeCutter]

I hear performance will now be quoted in cluck cycles. /sorry

Re:Hot Air

[Philip K Dickhead]

Microsoft has been building these for 2 years.

Everybody will be, 2 years from now.

Re:Hot Air

[donrich39]

They should build the "Chicken Coops" IN the river, thus taking advantage of free water cooling.

um...grats?

[Aurisor]

I'm rather mystified that there's still interest in Yahoo. Although I'm aware that their hand-edited, directory-like coverage is actually popular in countries that use non-ascii character sets, Yahoo's search results haven't seemed competitive to me since '97.

Honestly, I'm not trying to troll; just wondering why a site that's stagnated for over 10 years now needs anything cutting-edge.

Anyone still using them? Have any insights why we ought to care what they're up to?

Re:um...grats?

[Statecraftsman]

Some people like the clean look of a Google homepage while others who want a little news go with Yahoo. Also, AT&T plugs a lot of people into a Yahoo homepage by default. For many, it's not about search, it's about homepages.

Re:um...grats?

[powerslave12r]

Google tends to be for people who know what they want.

Yahoo tends to be for people who want to be fed/entertained/informed by whatever's there on the table (say like a TV channel).

Of course I generalize.

Opinion: I'm sure, the answer to your question about who uses them is "A lot of people."

Re:um...grats?

[omeomi]

Some people like the clean look of a Google homepage while others who want a little news go with Yahoo

So turn on iGoogle, and display all the extra info that you want on your homepage...

Re:um...grats?

[dubbayu_d_40]

I care. I have 10 years worth of email on their servers. And I'm still quite happy with My Yahoo page.

Re:um...grats?

[WaXHeLL]

Umm, Yahoo changed to a robot based crawler listing way back in 2002 for their main search results. Prior to that point, they had search engine results complimenting their directory.

In the past, they've used Inktomi (which they now own) as well as Google to power their searches. In 2003, they went to their own internal search engine.

Now that being said, they still maintain a web directory, but it has lost a lot of significance.

Re:um...grats?

[HuckleCom]

Yahoo, like google doesn't -JUST- provide a search engine nad I hope you've noticed that. In my world at least Yahoo definately has it going on with YUI - so much so that google homepages are using yui components

Re:um...grats?

[HuckleCom]

My typo could go two ways: nad = and or nad = nad,

Re:um...grats?

[Quothz]

Anyone still using them?

I still have a Yahoo mail account catching spam for me. Does that count?

Re:um...grats?

[plover]

Yahoo! does a lot more than just search or portal services. I wouldn't be surprised to learn if most of their revenue comes from providing secure web stores.

Re:um...grats?

[zonky]

So i'm logged in so i can use igoogle and personally identifiable to google & their analytics whereever i go on the web? No thanks.

Re:um...grats?

[Vectronic]

Yes, I did notice your nad...

Re:um...grats?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Since this is a hardware story, the mediocrity of their software side isn't a serious drawback.

In fact, that mediocrity might actually be driving some of their hardware/facilities innovation. If you are kicking ass on the software side, getting favorable ad rates, lots of buzz keeping the investors happy no matter what your P/E is, etc. you can get away with some infrastructure inefficiency(under good management you will still work to reduce this; but not doing so is easier than doing so, and you'll survive). If, however, your buzz is gone, your ad rates are slipping, and you have sharks gnawing on your stock, you can't afford to run a sloppy operation. If your revenue per visitor is poor, catering to that visitor had better be damn cheap.

Now, if a company is too far gone, or under the influence of Wall street oriented buzzsaw management, they won't have the talent needed to innovate, having lost/sacked their R&D people, and it is game over; but if a company is on the ropes but not yet down, or if their margins are simply not very good, you might expect them to do some interesting infrastructure stuff. Dell would be another one I'd put in the category. Software/design stories about them tend to be a yawn, or an embarrassment(Adamo, WTF?) but their logistics and supply chain guys are probably all cyborg ninja assassins.

Re:um...grats?

[DerekLyons]

Yahoo's search results haven't seemed competitive to me since '97.

Hint: There's much more to do on the web than search, and thus Yahoo! (and Google) provide a lot more services than search.
 
 

Honestly, I'm not trying to troll; just wondering why a site that's stagnated for over 10 years now needs anything cutting-edge.

Honestly, not trying to troll or flamebait, but are you really as ignorant as your posting makes you sound? Are you really too lazy to visit http://www.yahoo.com and spend a little time just reading the page and clicking around on the services offered?

Anyone still using them? Have any insights why we ought to care what they're up to?

I'm still using them because Google offers nothing to match the Yahoo! page I use as a homepage. (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb.) I still use Yahoo! mail for some functions as it's UI beats Gmail hands down. I still track my finances at Yahoo! because their management and analysis tools are superior to those provided by Google. I use Flickr because the collaboration and other tools it provides are superior to Picasa's. Etc... Etc...
 
Google's predominance in search and advertising blinds people to the 'also ran' status of so many of it's other services.

Re:um...grats?

[Tubal-Cain]

I have 10 years worth of email on their servers.

POP3, anyone?

Not that you should abandon Yahoo Mail just because you can... I'm just saying them having your email archive is little deterrent.

Re:um...grats?

[westlake]

Google tends to be for people who know what they want.

Which is why a typical Google search returns 16 million hits.

Re:um...grats?

[HockeyPuck]

I personally like http://finance.yahoo.com/ much better than http://finance.google.com/. The portfolio, quote and chart information is much better with yahoo.

Additionally, instant messaging. Why should I pick a platform/protocol/client that none of my friends or family use? I guess I could spend plenty of time getting them to switch, however, then they in turn have to convince their friends/family to convert as well.

Google is great at search, but beyond that.. not that much else attracts me to it from an application point of view. Someone once said, "Google is a method of getting somewhere, Yahoo is a destination."

Re:um...grats?

[afidel]

And in exchange I get to look through my search history and pick out sites I've visited, great for when you need to go back to a search term months or years later and you know you've found something useful in the past. And I still get the clean and well organized look that Google is famous for despite having several dozen addons. igoogle is kind of the Firefox of search engines, fast, clean, and customizable.

Re:um...grats?

[Runaway1956]

You live in a stone age village in Afghanistan, right? Check out noscript and adblockplus for Firefox. This is the age of enlightenment. Enlightened people can be logged into iGoogle, and still block adsense and all the other crap they disapprove of. The class for "Weaponized Bronze" will be right after "Safer Spearchucking". Have a nice day, boys and girls.

Re:um...grats?

[afidel]

Uh, my igoogle entertainment page is much more usable than that ugly mess and it's specialized to the teams I follow as well as including general sports information. It also includes non sports related entertainment addons which I mixed and matched to meet my preferences, not something provided to me on some media companies terms.

Re:um...grats?

[master5o1]

Don't they own Flickr or something?

Re:um...grats?

[master5o1]

Except Firefox is slowing down :(

Re:um...grats?

[vux984]

igoogle is kind of the Firefox of search engines

With the free bonus of having everything you do tracked for someone elses profit.

You see what I like about firefox extensions is that they are really and truly working for me, they don't exist for the sole purpose of coaxing data out me for someone else.

Re:um...grats?

[master5o1]

This story, and robotic search crawlers, makes me think about Robot Chicken.

Re:um...grats?

[vux984]

Enlightened people can be logged into iGoogle, and still block adsense and all the other crap they disapprove of.

You sound like the sort of person who would by a car with an exploding engine and rationalize it by saying that as an enlightened person with a fire extinguisher and tool box you can keep it running the way you like.

An enlightened person would buy a car that works the way it ought to without constantly having to keep fighting fires.

The class for "Weaponized Bronze" will be right after "Safer Spearchucking"

I'd hate for you to be late.

Re:um...grats?

[DerekLyons]

Uh, my igoogle entertainment page is much more usable than that ugly mess and it's specialized to the teams I follow as well as including general sports information.

I don't see how it can be 'much more usable' given how straightforward the page I link to is. (Not to mention the page I link to is a sports page, not an entertainment page.)
 

It also includes non sports related entertainment addons which I mixed and matched to meet my preferences, not something provided to me on some media companies terms.

Right - the content on your iGoogle appears suddenly as if by magic. No media company had a hand in creating it. No media company defined the preferences you get to choose from, they too suddenly appear as if by magic.

Re:um...grats?

[rachit]

Or conversely, go to Yahoo's search page and get the "clean" look.

Re:um...grats?

[davester666]

I'm mystified by the "cheap hydro power from the Niagara River" part.

Since the story doesn't claim that they are funding the construction of a new hydro-electric dam, they are just saying 'well, we're close to a dam, so we'll claim that our power needs are clean, and you bastards further away, that were going to get this electricity if we didn't use it, you are using electricity from those ozone-destroying, greenhouse gas-generating, scarce fossil-fuel burning power plants'.

Why do we let companies get away with these stupid claims. Unless they actually are responsible for building the clean power source, they should be denied the ability to claim they are using so-called 'clean' energy just because they happen to be physically near a pre-existing 'clean' energy source.

Re:um...grats?

[Jeeeb]

For one mail - Even when gmail came out with all the hype about 1gb of storage space, I stuck with yahoo and the puny 4mb it was offering, for the simple reason that changing mail address is a pita. Now I'm not sure if there is even a storage limit at all. I also now have multiple yahoo address all redirecting to my main one. That way I have an address with my real name for things like resumes .etc.

There are lots of other services though. Yahoo auctions is extremely popular in Japan. I've never heard anyone mention e-bay here.

The Yahoo Japan travel service is also pretty popular and convenient. I've booked night bus tickets between Osaka and Tokyo several times through it. Could search and compare prices, all the form details are stored with my yahoo ID and you can use the payment systems at convenience stores here to pay in cash rather than giving out your credit card details :)

Another big one is the biggest of the job-hunting sites here (rikunabi) is linked to yahoo. You login with your Yahoo Japan ID.

Then there's TV guides, news, shopping, weather etc. Through yahoo sports you can get live updated coverage of sporting events. Great for things where you don't want to sit watching it but do want to track the score :).

To be honest I'm surprised yahoo isn't more popular in the west. For most of what people want to do on the web you don't really need search and having a central hub to deal with it all actually makes a lot of sense.

Re:um...grats?

[Jeeeb]

Oh I forgot to mention. Here in Japan yahoo is also a major broadband provider, which probably helps with getting people to use yahoo.co.jp as their home page.

Also mobile-phone (cell-phone, keitai whatever you want to call it :) access is great on yahoo. I've use it for yahoo.com and yahoo.com.au and have been able to check my emails on with no probs for years :) Accessing the Japanese yahoo mobile site with my current Japanese mobile is also a significantly nicer experience than accessing the google site.

Re:um...grats?

[geekboy642]

I don't even comprehend your second statement. Are you unaware that iGoogle is essentially a pretty front-end to a bunch of RSS feeds, all chosen by the user? There can be as much or as little "media company" influence as you desire.

Re:um...grats?

[tirefire]

Your car's ICE explodes? Sounds like it's running a little lean.

Next you're going to tell me that your guns explode. If that's true, I'm surprised to see you posting here!

Re:um...grats?

[BikeHelmet]

I still use Yahoo! mail for some functions as it's UI beats Gmail hands down.

Heretic!...Troll!... get off my third favourite website! ;)

Honestly, the only part of Yahoo that I personally cared about was Jumpcut.

Re:um...grats?

[Jeff DeMaagd]

It seems more like you're trying to flame bait people.

I use several Yahoo services, I've forgotten about their directory system that you've brought up. Yellow pages is good, and I switch between them and Google for mapping & directions. I like the formatting of information in their finance section, though Google has the nifty chart applet, so I go between both services there.

Re:um...grats?

[vrmlguy]

With the free bonus of having everything you do tracked for someone elses profit.

You say that like it's a bad thing. IMHO, Google's web history makes it all worth while. Once or twice a month, I'll use web history to track down something that I didn't feel was wroth bookmarking at the time, but now feel a need to revisit, sometimes even years after the original sighting. I'm willing to let Google use my historical data, as long as I'm also allowed to use it. I don't have to worry about whether I saw something at home or at work, on a PC or my iPhone, on my current hardware or on a VM that only lived three weeks two years ago; as long as I was logged into Google, it's all in the same data store and I can search it from any device with a web browser. When I do want privacy, my browser's stealth mode not only keeps my search history out of my local cache, it also keeps it out of Google's. The rest of the time, I sometimes wish that my browser's history could be synched to Google so that I find pages that I found via Slashdot or Boing-Boing instead of via a search.

Re:um...grats?

[vux984]

Almost every car you see on America's highways have exploding engines.

Heh. Nice try to save it. But no, no they don't.

There is an important semantic difference between 'exploding engine' and 'internal combustion engine'. Just man up and admit it.

Besides the real point of my argument was that suggesting to use greasemonkey and adblock and noscript etc in order to make igoogle palatable to use is essentially admitting igoogle is anti-user. The smart thing to do is patronize services that aren't so offensive in the first place. And your attempted rebuttal REALLY doesn't address this, the real issue, at all.

The fact that you can beat igoogle into submission is beside the point. It still rewards google for its abusive strategy by depriving its competitors of marketshare for their less abusive strategies.

This is the exact same issue Microsoft competitors often face. People will pirate ("infringe the copyright of") [insert microsoft product] rather than use an alternative. They'll point at keygens and hacks etc and whatnot, and microsoft gets to stamp around and bitch about piracy but the REAL losers are the alternative options that provide good software at a fair price that don't even get a shake. Even foss alternatives lose out to this pattern.

Bottom line, if a vendor doesn't offer a product you want at the price you want with the terms and conditions you want you shouldn't use it. Using it and violating the terms, or hacking its functionality, or whatever ultimately does more damage to the products competitors than the product maker.

Re:um...grats?

[vux984]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

It is a bad thing in my opinion. At the very least its certainly not to your benefit.

I'm willing to let Google use my historical data, as long as I'm also allowed to use it. I don't have to worry about whether I saw something at home or at work, on a PC or my iPhone, on my current hardware or on a VM that only lived three weeks two years ago; as long as I was logged into Google, it's all in the same data store and I can search it from any device with a web browser.

You realize that there is no techical reason in the world that you couldn't have all this and also have it private... at the same time. That's what I want.

my browser's stealth mode not only keeps my search history out of my local cache, it also keeps it out of Google's

That just keeps it out of the data they show you. Its shockingly easy to track 'not-logged-in-users' even in 'stealth mode'. Sure they can't know absolutely that its you they are tracking, but its surprisingly easy to get a high enough confidence level that they can add the data to your profile for profiling and data mining.

Re:um...grats?

[unfasten]

...people can be logged into iGoogle, and still block adsense and all the other crap they disapprove of.

You are logged into their servers. They don't need all that fancy javascript and other voodoo to track you. They know exactly who you are because you're sitting there screaming it at them. All they need to do is log it straight to your account.

Sure, AdSense on other sites might be blocked but anything you do on their servers while logged in is easily logged on their end.

Re:um...grats?

[6Yankee]

That comes down quite rapidly, though, once you start specifying things like her hair colour... ...or so I'm told...

Re:um...grats?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm mystified by the "cheap hydro power from the Niagara River" part.

I believe that part had far more to do with their decision. Everything after that is just an extra description saying where it's from.

As for your claim of them "stealing" the power from other people:

The first phase will receive 10 megawatts of hydro-electric power from the New York Power Authority, which will also provision 15 megwawatts for the second phase of construction.

At the end of 2006, the New York Power Authority completed an upgrade to the Niagara power project. The station can now produce 2,400 megawatts. This study [pdf] puts the peak load at a little under 2.2 megawatts.

As you can see, there is plenty of power

Re:um...grats?

[afidel]

It IS to my benefit, Google provides useful services and takes some information in exchange. Since I get almost no phone calls at home, google filters 99.999% of my spam, and I don't get much junk mail at home, I fail to see how it's significantly impacting me. Heck even with the information they glean they provide a useful service, targeted advertising when I bother to look at it is much preferred to random punch the monkey type mass market crapflood advertising.

Re:um...grats?

[MiniMike]

Well, you just found the secret to their 'power savings' method. They're not building a new facility, they're taking an old one and enabling SpeedStep or Cool'n'Quiet on all of the processors. Just like that, they get 60-70% power savings!

Re:um...grats?

[Runaway1956]

Semantics? If you say so. All the same your engine is exploding all the time.

As for Google - name one thing that they do, that all the others don't do. "Oh, Evil Google!! They are tracking internet usage!"

I presume that you read the terms of service before you use ANY internet service or feature. I mean, read them, all the way through the obfuscated fine print? They all presume to have the right to track your usage. Some few restrict that right to their own site(s) while others don't.

It's a free for all out there - and if you're unaware of that, well, I just don't know what to say.

People ONLY track me when I permit them to. You?

Re:um...grats?

[agilen]

So in your opinion data centers should be built in the middle of a desert where they need to be cooled heavily all year by a coal plant?

Yahoo gets a subsidy on their power to operate a data center (and create jobs) in Niagara County, because most of the power generated by a huge public work in Niagara County benefits people in larger cities far away who pay more for the electricity. There is a savings on transmission costs, the weather in Niagara County is very favorable to cooling a data center, there is ample space, no history of natural disasters, etc.

They absolutely chose this spot because of the abundance of clean and cheap energy, and even though it was money talking, I applaud Yahoo for letting "green power" buy them instead of plain old "tax breaks".

Re:um...grats?

[alphajim]

What, no "build it and they will come"? The Niagara Frontier are has had job availability issues since the 80's. They've got power, people, reasonably cheap land, a single fault that shakes about once every 30 years so little you can't feel it. They do get snow, but usually not as bad as further south near Buffalo and the lake Erie shore. With good air flow, they'll probably only need to run the chillers 2-3 months out of the year.

Re:um...grats?

[dbcad7]

I use them kinda, as my ATT.net page is "powered by" Yahoo.. I originally had no interest in Yahoo because I always used Excite, but Excite had email problems for like 45 days. and they got all flakey updating their content.. So I started searching for another portal.. As I had DSL through AT&T I figured I'd give it a try.. and it's turned out to be pretty good.. Not as customizable as Excite, but has the benefit in that I can just get my email through the web site which is handy with my dual booting.. Don't know if it will affect my ATT page, but recently read that there is a major change coming to Yahoo allowing much more customizing.

Re:um...grats?

[ceswiedler]

Wha? Sorry, dude, but I don't buy it. The data center is near the dam, and is getting its power from there. So if you consider hydroelectric power clean (most people do) then their power is clean. Electricity takes money and effort to move around; it's not as if Yahoo is somehow causing people in West Virginia to burn more coal than they otherwise would have.

Of course, the reason data centers are near hydro power is because it's cheap and reliable, and because it doesn't matter too much exactly where a data center is. Being clean is a nice benefit though.

Re:um...grats?

[westlake]

I'm mystified by the "cheap hydro power from the Niagara River" part.

Yahoo chose to build new here - a $150 million dollar investment.

It's a bit of a adjustment to think of "cheap hydro" as being as significant to the data center as to the mile long chemical plants that line the upper Niagara River.

Re:um...grats?

[davester666]

It's laudable that they built in an area where the climate is cooler, reducing their need for powered cooling systems, and building near a power source is also good, to reduce energy transmission losses.

But claiming that 'they' get the green energy just because they situate themselves closer to that particular pre-existing energy source, when that same power would, if not used by them, go to people's homes or other businesses that are further way is ridiculous, because those other people need that power anyway, and now need to run a coal-fired plant extra to make up the difference.

If Google builds a datacenter next door, slightly closer to the dam, then does Google get to claim they have the 'green' datacenter, and Yahoo's datacenter is now using energy from a bad coal-fired plant?

And it's also bizarre that a hydro-electric dam wouldn't be running at or near capacity always just to reduce the use of coal-fired plants in general.

Re:Fuck you, sexist jackass

[teh moges]

Women can wait tables too!

Phew

[hansraj]

For a moment there I panicked about a chicken coup trying to overtake Yahoo. Although chickens can not make it any worse for Yahoo than it already is.

The image of millions of chickens rising up against the tyranny of Yahoo and running around all excited is simply awesome. I, therefore, petition that Yahoo at least change the name to Chicken Coup if not go all the way to welcoming their new chicken overlords!

Re:Phew

[Somegeek]

chickens in choppers?

Will this Yahoo idea live up to the hype?

[bogaboga]

I certainly hope it does. You see, I have doubts on the viability of whatever Yahoo does. A company that shuts down three services in less than 8 months (Y!Live, Jumpcut and Maven Networks), you begin to wonder whether they know what they are doing.

On my mail account, Yahoo have decided to make it more bloated with Facebook/Twitter like services while requiring money to mark more than 500 addresses as spam addresses. By the way, you cannot redirect mail from a Yahoo account or access it via POP3 without shelling out cash. Insane with the likes of free Gmail out there.

I have also noticed that Yahoo search is capturing any invalid URLs I enter into the Google search page...adding to my agony and dislike of the company. If I want to search, I know where to go. Bottom line, Yahoo do not know what they are doing in my not so humble opinion.

Re:Will this Yahoo idea live up to the hype?

[PitaBred]

Yahoo! knows exactly what they're doing. They just don't give a shit about users that know better. The ones that know better aren't the type of person to pay for services.

Re:Bawk, bawk Yahoo! in Niagara

[wiredlogic]

Lockport is more for meth heads. There are lots of GM workers there with a lot of free time and the extra cash from their union pay scale leaves them with many recreational options.

Re:Bawk, bawk Yahoo! in Niagara

[Angry_Admin]

I live in Lockport, NY and I can attest, it isn't.

Lockport

[westlake]

Lockport is where the Erie Canal climbs the Niagara Escarpment.

The canal itself was and is a source of hydro-power - think of it as a 350 mile nineteenth century industrial corridor cut across upstate New York. The work of self-taught engineers and Irish immigrant labor - with no better tools available than the pick axe and black powder.

Lockport is a small city of about 20,000 that has been spared the frauds and fancies that have plagued the redevelopment of Niagara Falls. It is about 16 miles northeast of the SUNY Amherst campus.

Re:Lockport

[fataugie]

My 9th grade Social Studies teacher told the story that to motivate the workers to dig a certain distance, they would put a wiskey barrel at the stopping point for the day. Dig to there, and the rest of the day you have off and can drink your wiskey.

Either that was true and brilliant, or incredibly derragatory to Irish.
The teacher was Irish, so who knows.

Flickr and games.yahoo.com

[sofakingon]

I have been using Yahoo! Flickr on a nearly daily basis, and for online card/board games, yahoo is a great place to play. Yahoo stopped being a search engine a looooong time ago, but still does other things quite well.

Re:Flickr and games.yahoo.com

[SCHecklerX]

No, they *did* other things quite well. Then they decided to mess with it to jump into that web 2.0 thang. Their groups suck. Their TV listings suck. Their calendaring and email both suck. Their authentication mechanisms (Some groups I'm a member of use Yahoo! groups) are braindead. No ical. no pop/imap without paying. tv listings that focus more on the advertising than the listing, etc.

Re:Flickr and games.yahoo.com

[Stenchwarrior]

Oh, and don't forget about the Web Chat that people use at work because they think IT can't see what they are doing.

(Note: Sys Admins, get this neat util.)

WTF?

[oldhack]

What sorta chicken shit operation is Yahoo turning into?

Re:um...grets?

[gafisher]

The market allows for an OpenOffice even in a world dominated by MSWord. Ruths Chris still sells meat even though McDonalds sells more. Ford isn't expected to roll over and die in the face of Toyota's market share. Corn flakes and shredded wheat, Java and Ruby, PC and Mac, Hertz and Avis -- competition is not about destroying the second tier, it's about compelling both it and the market leader to keep getting better. Would Google work so hard if it didn't have Yahoo on its heels?

Chicken or the Eggs?

[filesiteguy]

Though this is an interesting design, I'm wondering if the savings would be better served from using simply less servers? Does Y! use a high-tech design and still have a ton of servers or do they spend less on design and more on higher-capacacity servers running virtualization?

Hey, I was just in a massive data center yesterday for a tour. (100,000 sq ft) They had a spare s390 sitting on the side of the room. Maybe Y! can borrow that baby and put on a few hundred linux and/or windows VMs...

Re:Path dependency

[bsDaemon]

So, you're saying that Yahoo is the CBS News of websites?

Re:The Niagara area

[Azghoul]

DC is 6.5 hours away if you drive a Mustang and go down 219 through central PA. :)

Good news and bad news

[GameMaster]

I went to school in Rochester, NY, so I'm familiar with the area. The good news is that the power up there is obscenely cheap (if you're in a township that gets the hydro power) and that they should have no problem cooling the facility for much of the year. The bad news is that the snow gets so bad that they've, routinely, had to shut down the NY State Thruway West of Rochester during winter storms. Good luck getting to work in those conditions, they may want to consider setting up cots for the Admins.

Re:Good news and bad news

[guruevi]

If you've lived here long enough, you know that shutting down the highway is only done for those that can't drive on snow (tourists). You take the inside route with any decent 4WD car and a good set of tires and you'll get to your job. I used to drive from Rochester, NY to Erie, PA (through Buffalo - I-90 is right besides the lakes all the way) in the middle of winter through the heaviest storms. Unless the University of Rochester shuts down there is nothing to worry about (they haven't in decades).

Re:Good news and bad news

[fataugie]

As someone who lives in the area and works in downtown Rochester, I can state that we do not use U of R as our benchmark as to when to shut down.

It's a function of how much of a hard-ass your boss is. If he/she owns a 4WD and has a good work ethic, you're screwed.
I've had to dig out waist deep snow down my driveway to get to work as it wasn't called off.

Re:Good news and bad news

[GameMaster]

Hehe, actually I went to RIT. Also, I was more referring more to the Buffalo area where this data center is being built. In my experience, Rochester's location directly south of the lake gives it a little cover from the worst of the lake effect snow. In my time there, I can remember the NY State Thruway authority shutting down the thruway west of Rochester on a, reasonably, regular basis while east of Rochester tended to stay open much more.

Re:Good news and bad news

[Jaime2]

I live in Lockport. Over the past twenty years, I have probably missed four days of work due to weather. When the northeast was blacked out in 2003, south Lockport had power. When the city of Buffalo got 24 inches of snow in a few hours and shut down in 2000, the northtowns were snow-free. When the whole Western New York area had serious power problems from an early snow fall while the leaves were still on the trees back in October of 2006, my neighborhood in Lockport was unaffected. Our Cincinnati office seems to be closed at least twice a years for wind or ice storms. South of Buffalo gets a lot of snow, but we get about half as much in the north.

I have worked 30 miles from home since March 2007 and I don't know how to fill out a "snow day" on my time sheet because I've never needed to.

Another PILOT scam.

[Andy_w715]

Ah another project brought to you by PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes). Screwing the homeowners and tax payers of Niagara County once again. Niagara county is one of the most taxed counties in NY, PILOT was supposed to help start-ups get their feet off the ground, but has since been abused by large companies by promising high paying jobs in return for sales tax exemptions and property tax waiving. Case in point AES Sumerset. As with Google (in Lenoir county NC), its likely only a small fraction of the 175 announced jobs will be filled. Many of them being building maintenance jobs with most of the admins and engineers working remotely and not really contributing to the local economy (after all who wants to live in Lockport?, where yes the houses are cheap...but you have to pay 5000/year property tax on your 100k house).

2 doors?

[kvap]

You know why the Yahoo Computing Coop only has 2 doors?

Because if it was 4 doors, it'd be a Computing Sedan!


Thank you, I'll be here all night. Please tip your server.

Filtering

[vanyel]

If they don't have really good filters on those louvers, it'll *really* look like a chicken coop inside...

The powder monkeys.

[westlake]

Dig to there, and the rest of the day you have off and can drink your wiskey.

a single barrel seems scarcely enough for the true Irish working man's thirst.

one story that probably didn't make your Social Studies class:

planting the black powder charges meant working in very tight places. so a local farmer's kid - a very young kid - would be hired on for the job.