When Waiting Isn't an Option: A Discussion with Jake Ring, President of PDM, Live from PTC 2026
episode
The Watchtower - Mission Critical and Data Center Perspectives
32 min
2 speakers
5 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of The Watchtower by Empirics Partners, a strategic sourcing and procurement advisory specifically designed for the mission critical space. I'm Zach Pena, CEO here at Empirics. We focus on conversations on the data center industry, providing perspectives and insights into what's changing and the mindsets required for long term success at scale. Let's get into it. Hey, everybody, this is Zach Pena, the CEO of Empirics Partners. I'm here with Jake Ring, the CEO of PDM here at PTC live recording. I know we don't do this all the time, but it's great to be here in Hawaii. Jake, how are you doing today?
Oh, we're doing great. We've had an incredible just couple of days, even before the conferences really officially started today, just standing in line. We had people coming up and saying, hey, by the way, I need to do, I need to follow up on a couple of opportunities for you. I need 1,400, you know, transformers for this application. It's like, it's amazing to see. And we're really amazed.
People are coming to you instead of you going to them, which is a big change from last year.
It has been fantastic to see. We've really made some headway where now people not only recognize us, recognize our brand, but are saying, hey, that's right, you're PDM. You're the guys that do Transformers in nine weeks.
I don't know where they got that from, though.
It might be on some posters. It might be on a little marketing, yes. We do have a very good marketing team. And so that, you know, has been, but we have to follow up, you know, you have to actually be able to, you know, follow through on your promises or else, you know, you don't, the brand won't withstand that. So for us, the experience has been wonderful and we've been able to expand. Whereas before we'd started with the medium voltage distribution transformers. And now I've gone into the high voltage, full force. And with dead tank circuit breakers, with high voltage transformers. And that's really the thing because it has become that pinch point for people to be able to generate or access the power available from the grid where it's available.
They need that step down transformer, that power transformer to bring that transmission voltage down. down to the distribution level, and then the pad mounts to be able to bring it into the building. And while that's been the current design, what's been interesting is seeing how that's evolving now to where if the grid's not able to support it, and to some extent, some hyperscalers and other companies are going, where's the power? We'll just go to the power. It could be in the middle of the cornfields of Iowa, but we'll just go find it. Yet, if I don't have the grid availability, but I have the great location, but I've got gas pipelines. I'll start doing some gas generation. The client that did just that, they took, they got 74 Yenbacher gas engines at three and a half megawatts.
And then they needed to step that up from the 13.8 volts coming out to 13.8 kilovolt and step it up to 24.9 to be able to distribute it over to the building. Where there we were able to take that, step it down from the 24.9 to the 480 for putting into the building. We got that order, you know, at the beginning of October in 24, and we were able to deliver that by the end of December, all 74 pieces, 4,000 KVAs. Which is impressive, yeah. And that was kind of our first exposure to this is this now booming or much more booming trend where people are saying, okay, if I can get that Baker Hughes generator, if I can get that, you know – Turbine from solar or, you know, whatever, you know, turbine Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Emerson, you know, whatever.
You know, if I can get that going, I will try to put that, implement that and be able to drop that power wherever I can.
Yeah, I mean, everybody wants to say, hey, I want to turn this random piece of dirt into data, right? The blinky lights make money, right? And that's what they have to do. And you guys are a huge part of that. When you're finding that you're a larger part of that than I think you probably realized is pad mounted transformers, amazing.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:15–4:42
2
How did PDM go from unknown to customers seeking them out at industry conferences?
4:42–10:16
3
Why are transformers the critical pinch point for accessing grid power and enabling self-generation?
10:16–14:46
4
How did PDM deliver 74 transformers in three months for a gas-generation project?
14:46–22:28
5
What engineering and specification challenges do data center developers face when designing substations?
22:28–32:58
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Watchtower - Mission Critical and Data Center Perspectives
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Go Big or Go Fast: Entering the 2026 Data Center Market While Barriers Have Never Been Higher
Beyond Five Nines: Navigating the Evolution of Redundancy in Data Center Design