Facebook’s Open Compute Project
Facebook announced last week the formation of their Open Compute Project, an industry-wide initiative to share specifications and best practices for creating the most energy efficient and economical data centers.
As a first step, they published the specifications and mechanical designs for the hardware used in their new data center, which uses 38 percent less energy to do the same work as Facebook’s existing facilities, while costing 24 percent less. The 147,000 square foot facility is built in Prineville, Oregon, where the naturally cool climate eliminates the need for air-conditioning, instead using filters and fans to pull cool air from outside.
As reported by the Financial Times, “a group of high-profile technology companies that have not been in the habit of sharing their intellectual property are partnering with Facebook in the development of its open-source designs, including Dell, HP, and Intel.” Organizations such as Zynga, Rackspace, which manages servers for smaller companies, and the US Department of Energy have already committed to adopting parts of the design for their own data centers and servers.
In addition to the facility design, new servers are six pounds lighter than conventional designs, stripping unnecessary plastic components and paint from the frame and motherboard to increase surface area and thermal efficiency. The lighter weight, plus a simpler snap system, rather than screws, make the servers easier to remove from racks for repair.
“We want server design and data-center design to be something people can jointly collaborate on,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “We’re trying to foster this ecosystem where developers can easily build startups, and by sharing this we think it’s going to make this ecosystem more efficiently grow. By sharing this we think there is going to be more demand for the type of stuff that we need, which should drive up the efficiency and scale of development, and make it more cost-effective.”
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