10
7X24 MAGAZINE FALL 2014
difference, but at Facebook’s
scale the efficiency gains can be
significant. In fact, in the three
years since we first turned
Prineville up, we’ve saved
enough energy to power 40,000
homes for an entire year.
The other thing worth noting
here is that our focus on
simplicity doesn’t just impact
energy use or density — it also
helps us achieve meaningful
efficiencies in our operations. For
example, our web server and
storage designs use snaps and
spring-loaded catches to hold
components in place. This makes
it much easier for data center
technicians to complete repairs,
as they no longer have to spend
time finding the right tool and
unscrewing multiple components
every time they need to replace a
failed component. This has
reduced the average repair time
to swap parts by over 50 percent,
and when combined with our
focus on using tooling and
automation to manage break-fix
work, that has allowed us to
maintain a ratio of one technician
for every 20,000 servers in our
facilities.
Focus on Speed
and Flexibility
If you’ve followed Facebook over
the years, you know that as a
company we like to move fast.
We believe that the best way to
learn and to grow is to build,
deploy, and iterate on new
technologies and features as
quickly as we can. This focus on
speed extends to the entire
company, and our data center
team is no exception.
One recent example is our new
rapid deployment data center
(RDDC) design. Since we broke
ground on our first data center in
Prineville four years ago, we have
deployed six iterations of that
design, culminating in the first
building currently under
construction at our new campus
in Altoona. With facilities around
the world, we constantly
challenge ourselves to improve
our construction techniques to
maximize efficiency, reduce
material use, and speed up build
times.
