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LarryM99
It's fascinating to see the computer industry move back to centralized ...
GREAT-Terry
It is interesting that Google is going into social networking and Facebook is ...
Facebook opens data center, server designs
Rick Merritt
4/7/2011 2:31 PM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Facebook is making available the designs for its data center and servers in hopes other large data center operators adopt them. The designs include a 277-volt power supply that is 94.5 percent efficient as well as custom Intel and AMD motherboards.
Facebook launched the Open Compute Project with a handful of members who plan to support the specs, including Dell which said it is already shipping compliant servers. If others adopt the specs, it would drive volumes up and costs down for the products, benefiting Facebook.
So far, no other large commercial data center operators have joined the Facebook effort.
Many top data center operators including Google consider their data center and server designs part of their proprietary secret sauce. Microsoft already shares specifications for its data center servers with a handful of existing and potential vendors on a non-disclosure basis.
Dileep Bhandarkar, the executive who manages Microsoft's data centers, attended the Facebook event and praised the effort but stopped short of joining it. "We have been sharing our best practices openly for several years now, talking about rightsizing of servers by removing unnecessary components and increasing efficiencies of power supplies and VRMs," he said.
The big opportunity for the Facebook effort would be to snag a big operator like Microsoft or Amazon to adopt nits spec. Failing that it could get a groundswell of support from second-tier data center operators too small to design their own servers.
"Sharing open-source software has existed for years, but the practice hasn’t taken hold in hardware yet," said Jonathan Heiliger, vice president of technical operations for Facebook. "By creating a community around these problems we will all become better," he said.
Whether it gains road adoption or not, the Facebook approach shows innovations on several fronts. The Facebook design includes a data center that brings 480/277 VAC power direct to the server power supply, eliminating up to four power conversion steps that waste nine to fifteen percent of power.
Facebook co-designed its 277-volt power supply with Power One and Delta. It developed at least one of its motherboards with Taiwan's Quanta and worked with 10-15 suppliers in all.
A team of just three Facebook engineers, lead by Amir Michael, designed the servers, power supply and novel chassis and racks in about 18 months.
Facebook co-designed a 94.5 percent efficient power supply.
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Luis Sanchez
4/7/2011 4:52 PM EDT
I wonder till which level is this open spec.? Does this all mean the hardware electrical schematics will be available for anyone to manufacture?
The approach seems very original. It's an unexpected news coming from a social networking giant. Looks like Facebook doesn't want to stay put but actually to expand in any direction possible. I'm with that! Will be interesting to see if the Facebook data centers become the standard within some years.
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pixies
4/7/2011 5:25 PM EDT
What is the advantage of a 277V power supply?
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joepaiii
4/7/2011 11:03 PM EDT
From article:
The Facebook design includes a data center that brings 480/277 VAC power direct to the server power supply, eliminating up to four power conversion steps that waste nine to fifteen percent of power.
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rick.merritt
4/7/2011 5:29 PM EDT
Yes, Facebook is making full schematics of the boards and power supplies available, even CAD drawings of the chassis and rack it designed. If they get others to buy these parts, raising volumes and lowering prices for Facebook, it will be worth it to them.
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KB3001
4/7/2011 6:12 PM EDT
Nice move, which would benefit Facebook and new entrants into the market. Remains to see if Microsoft and Google will follow suit.... doubt it. Eventually, the best design will win anyway.
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VincePG
4/8/2011 2:53 PM EDT
It's not clear yet whether Facebook is a viable competitive entity. Right now Facebook is still a profit-less, private venture, funded by the likes of Goldman Sachs. Does this relationship with GS suggest Facebook is some kind of massive ponzi scheme to bilk investors? I don't know, but having them drive hardware markets to a specific commodity standard is not necessarily a good idea for US engineers or US competitiveness, particularly when Microsoft and Google, who do make profits and really are in competitive markets, seem to have reservations. Beware of startup companies bearing gifts, regardless of their purported size. Bernie Madoff was really big too, until his ponzi scheme collapsed.
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selinz
4/8/2011 8:27 PM EDT
This move surprises and impresses me. I hadn't heard of any hardware effort at Facebook before this... They have become more intrenched into most people's daily lives than Google ever was. They are will positioned to profit. I accidentally click on more adverts in FB than on purpose Google..
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rick.merritt
4/10/2011 12:47 AM EDT
A Facebook spokesman sent me the following note late Friday: "an engineering blog post with a summary and some more details about the Open Compute server.
http://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/inside-the-open-compute-project-server/10150144796738920
There will be another post on Monday covering the data center architecture and specifications."
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GREAT-Terry
4/12/2011 2:22 AM EDT
It is interesting that Google is going into social networking and Facebook is going into data center. When will we see next move of Apple that do something totally different? These 3 companies often give the public shocks and it seems only these 3 companies are dare to think wild.
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LarryM99
4/12/2011 1:08 PM EDT
It's fascinating to see the computer industry move back to centralized architectures after the great PC decentralization that started in the 1980's. Hopefully this is going to drive a new round of networking infrastructure buildout to provide the communications necessary to support this move.
Larry M.
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