Yahoo Readies Data Center LOCKPORT, NY (wned) - Construction crews are putting the final touches on the new Yahoo Data Center in Lockport. The facility is all but online.
With most of its infrastructure in place, the facility is already running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The data center just in time for the coming of colder weather, which is partly why the Lockport was chosen for the project. So says Yahoo's Scott Noteboom.
"In years past we used to spend almost 54 percent of our computing power to cool those computers. But in Buffalo, with its cool weather throughout the year, we've decreased that percentage to like one percent," Noteboom said.
Most of the 125 jobs the project created have been filled. Noteboom says finding labor in the Buffalo-Niagara region hasn't been a problem.
"It's just slightly different from a manufacturing facility. Our factory is producing bits instead of automobiles or whatever. So finding folks of a manufacturing mindset, even if it's data manufacturing, we've had success in the area. So most of the folks are hired locally," Noteboom said.
The $150 million first phase of the facility will open a few months later than originally planned on September 20. After that, any internet user in the eastern United State on a Yahoo site will be virtually on a server in Lockport. Construction on the second phase will last until next summer.
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