Google partners to set industry standards for data center infrastructure

On this episode of Connected Nation, we sit down with Google's Head of Global Quality and Commissioning to discuss how industry leaders are coming together to set standards for data center infrastructure.  

Find out how your company can get involved and why setting a standard now is important for AI in the future. 

Related links:
Google
Gino Tozzi's Linkedin
Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) details data center quality management 
 

Chapters

• 1:36 Gino’s panel
• 3:17 AI’s impact on infrastructure
• 5:03 Challenges and fun with AI
• 7:30 What it’s like to be Google's Head of Global Quality and Commissioning
• 9:08 Google’s global approach
• 9:48 Partnerships and moving forward

Transcript

Jessica Denson, Host (00:05):

This is Connected Nation, an award-winning podcast focused on all things broadband from closing the digital divide to improving your internet speeds. We talk technology topics that impact all of us, our families, and our neighborhoods.

(00:21):

On this episode of Connected Nation, I bring you a very special guest from Google, the global head of Data Infrastructure. Find out what special announcement Google just made regarding setting industry standards for ai. I'm Jessica Denson, and this is Connected Nation.

(00:41):

I am at the Broadband Nation Expo in Orlando, Florida. And I just heard about this panel that ha I didn't get to see because I was doing interviews for the podcast, but, uh, Gino Tozzi is, am I saying your last name right, sir? Yes. Um, has agreed to talk to us about what he just announced and everything that they talked about the panel. He is the global Head of Data Infrastructure, uh, for Google. Is that the full

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (01:08):

Title? Yes. For Google. For quality and commissioning. For Google

Jessica Denson, Host (01:11):

For quality of scale, right?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (01:13):

Yes. Quality and scale of commissioning for Google data centers.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:17):

Awesome. That's quite the title. How do you fit that on your business card? <laugh>?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (01:21):

Yeah, it's, it's, uh, small font,

Jessica Denson, Host (01:24):

<laugh> and, uh, Gino, uh, I didn't get to see the panel, so I hate that, but I've heard that there's some really cool stuff that you announced, some great things that you guys are doing. Can you share that with our audience please?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (01:36):

Sure, sure. So a lot of what the discussion was about is the massive scale in global infrastructure for data centers. So the industry is like growing, extremely doubling and tripling, uh, as we speak. So what a lot of my talk was about was about the, we're kicking off a new standard for equipment quality in the infrastructure space.

(02:00):

 We are working through TIA, which is an organization that manages standards and helps govern standards. So we're working with TIA. So we recently announced through a press release a couple weeks ago that we're kicking this standard off. It's been announced, uh, we're working with, uh, our peers as well as the suppliers in the industry that make and supply the gear that goes into data centers. Not so much the server gear, but the infrastructure gear, large switch gear, cooling systems, backup power generations, this type of gear. The industry does not have a standard and we're out to set and create one. There's a lot of interest and a lot of engagement already, so it's looking, uh, very exciting.

Jessica Denson, Host (02:44):

Yeah, AI is where it's at right now, right?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (02:47):

Yes. And a lot of the investment that's happening out, a big chunk of it is dedicated to AI and AI training. Still, still, cloud services is a huge, a huge thing, but the AI investment is, is heavily driving a lot of it. Yes.

Jessica Denson, Host (03:03):

And I think a lot of people, um, inside the industry and outside the industry don't realize the drain that AI is on infrastructure and bandwidth and that type of thing. Talk about how you can approach that.

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (03:17):

Yeah. So the scale of, uh, data centers is, is rapidly increasing

Jessica Denson, Host (03:22):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (03:22):

So, um, it's driving the demand heavily and it's also affects, uh, you know, fiber networks and all the networks and data that flows in and out of a data center is continually growing pretty quickly.

Jessica Denson, Host (03:37):

And you've mentioned at the top of this podcast that things are changing and evolving as we speak. Things are moving forward as we speak. So how critical it is, is it to have a standard that we can all look to?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (03:49):

Uh, it's super critical, especially around the, uh, infrastructure, equipment space. Um, many players are getting into the industry to provide equipment. There's many factories being built.

(04:01):

There's a lot of consolidation at times in the industry, so there's a lot happening in order to meet this critical demand. But when you have that much demand and that much speed needed for equipment, you wanna be able to stabilize the, the industry and the network as much as possible. So that's part of driving a standard so that all the suppliers and companies have more of a common quality language, common common quality metrics, and that will help drive and speed up the, uh, the industry.

Jessica Denson, Host (04:30):

And a company like Google, it really has credibility and, uh, cachet, so to speak. Uh, how important is, is it to Google to lead in this area?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (04:41):

It's really important to us to lead it because we also not only wanna lead it, but you wanna create a collaborative environment across the supplier base so that, again, we have a common language, but also across the industry in general. That's why we took the initiative to lead it and drive it forward. And again, there's a lot of great interest from our, uh, peers and counterparts as well.

Jessica Denson, Host (05:03):

Are, are there any things that you're hearing right now, like, um, problems that need to be solved or lessons that have already been learned through this process?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (05:11):

I'd say one of the, uh, I'd call it challenges is how to scale to this level this quickly. And, um, I think a starting point. One of the pillars is having more standards and more commonality across the, uh, at least the quality standards. Um, but there's also appears to be a certain shortage of, even on the workforce side, that, um, across the supplier base, finding enough, um, basically resources to ramp as well. That, and that got talked about in many of the sessions at this, uh, at this event, not just our session.

Jessica Denson, Host (05:46):

It's an exciting time to be in this industry with ai. Um, are, are you having a little bit of fun with this? Are you a little excited about what's next?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (05:55):

Yeah, extremely. It's, there's a ton of energy in the industry right now with it. Um, it's growing very, very quickly. Uh, there's a lot of, uh, people jumping into the business and a lot of, uh, partnerships emerging as well. Uh, so that's a, it's been a very, uh, energizing period.

Jessica Denson, Host (06:14):

I think it's great that, um, Google is working with the other industry, um, people, industry insiders, so to speak, like the Telecommunication Industry Association, TIA that you referenced. How important is that, that we do this in partnership with each other?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (06:28):

It's extremely important, and that's why we selected TIA to work with. We kind of looked across, you know, the different people that are involved in standards and TIA was kind of a natural fit. Um, especially TIA has already released some standards for data center design as well as data center operations. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. But this is all about the equipment side of the house. So this is different, but TIA has the right background to, um, to partnership and help help us roll this out.

Jessica Denson, Host (06:58):

Um, I'm excited to see what happens. What is the December 11th date? What's that about?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (07:03):

The December 11th date is a working kickoff group to start the conversation and players that wanna get involved in this new standard. And TIA will be formally announcing it very soon. So all the communications of this will come out through TIA and that's December 11th is a virtual, uh, collaborative working meeting kickoff that, uh, people in the industry are invited to join.

Jessica Denson, Host (07:28):

Uh, we'll be looking for that and we'll share that for sure. Um, let's talk a little bit about you and your role. Talk about what you do and your global, as the global head of data infrastructure.

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (07:37):

Yeah, so, so my, my role, global head of, it's really a quality role and commissioning mm-hmm <affirmative>. For data center, uh, infrastructure. So we work heavily with the suppliers that make that equipment, that fabricate the equipment, design it in some cases, and then when that equipment shows up at construction sites to be deployed, we go through a whole commissioning process readiness, ensuring the gear's ready to be deployed. And then once it's deployed, there's a lot of focus on understanding the failure rates, the performance of the gear, and so forth. So it's a very end to end focus on equipment deployment and, uh, execution.

Jessica Denson, Host (08:14):

Do you have, uh, a background all in tech or you just love this stuff, or what was your background?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (08:20):

Yeah, my back. So I've been in the data center business for about 10 years. Uh, prior to that I was heavy in telecom, uh, mobile infrastructure, mobile phone systems, even in broadband at one point, uh, in the days of, uh, Motorola connected home. Oh, wow. Motorola <laugh>. So it's always been, yep. Uh, it's always been in, in the tech world in one way or another, often with manufacturing, uh, operation, supply chain quality as well, so mm-hmm <affirmative>. But all is around that kind of space.

Jessica Denson, Host (08:51):

So where are you based? Do you work out of a Google office or do you work from home or,

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (08:55):

Uh, yeah, I started Google in Mountain View for several years, then I was in Atlanta for quite some time. And then now I'm just south of Jacksonville, uh, in northern Florida.

Jessica Denson, Host (09:05):

Is, I know Google's a global company. There's no secret there, but, uh, is there, is there a different approach that it has here now nationally than it does in other parts of the world?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (09:14):

Uh, no. We have a pretty similar footprint in the way we operate data centers. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. There's different business models in, in the industry. Um, you know, building your own data centers, leasing data centers, there's all sorts of, all sorts of business arrangements in the, in the industry. Uh, everyone right now seems to be, uh, focused on capacity and speed. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Is this moment,

Jessica Denson, Host (09:36):

Uh, from this, from setting these standards. What, what do you hope, not you specifically, but Google, what does it, what, what do you hope to be? Where does that lead, I guess, is what I'm asking?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (09:48):

Yeah. Where we wanted to lead to is, is the end game really we're trying to lead to is better quality and better resilience of the infrastructure network. And we're doing that through trying to drive some common quality goals and specifications across the equipment suppliers.

Jessica Denson, Host (10:06):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. That's

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (10:07):

Really the whole motivation for doing this.

Jessica Denson, Host (10:09):

Well, I think people were, are really excited about what you're doing and what you're saying. 'cause there was a lot of people when I was like, can you come talk to us and just chat with me about what you, you said? Um, are, are you looking forward to these partnerships and moving this forward? Just you yourself?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (10:23):

Yeah, very much so. It's always been, uh, kind of a passion of mine and we've been actually talking about it for about, aye, a couple years now. So very, very excited about it.

Jessica Denson, Host (10:33):

Yeah. That's one thing that I'm kind of surprised about, you know, for a lot of us, uh, the average Joe who isn't a techie, it, it may seem like AI came out of nowhere. Right. But you guys have been preparing for this for a while, right?

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (10:45):

Yeah. The whole industry's been, uh, focused on it for a while and it's been, it's been definitely, uh, ramping up.

Jessica Denson, Host (10:51):

Yeah. It's exciting time to be in this. Well, Gina, I really, Gino I really appreciate your time. Um, thank you so much for joining me. I know you're busy and I know you have other meetings, so I will let you go, but please, I'd love to get an update down the road.

Gino Tozzi, Head of Global Quality & Commissioning (11:05):

Awesome. Thank you Jessica.

Jessica Denson, Host (11:07):

Once again, during this conversation, we discussed the December 11th event that will focus on industry standards for data centers and AI. Connected Nation will cover that event and I will bring you more details as they are available. Until then, I am Jessica Denson and this is Connected Nation.