The Open Compute Project is a collaborative community focused on redesigning hardware technology to efficiently support the growing demands on compute infrastructure. The Open Compute Project mission is to design, use and enable mainstream delivery of the most efficient designs for scalable computing.
Overview
According to Server-Racks, “The Open Compute Project started in 2011 and stems from Facebook’s initiative to improve energy efficiency, reduce hardware costs, and speed up deployment, by developing their own custom servers, power supplies, server racks and battery backup systems. The rack and equipment itself has evolved from a standardized 19” EIA rack with specialized IT servers to a unique rack with wide equipment and centralized power.
The Open Compute Project revolves around the Open Rack, a 539mm (21.22”) wide equipment space with a 48mm (1.89”) OpenU tall space. The power for the rack is standardized on a 12 VDC bus bar that runs the entire height of the rack. The benefits from this are a wider and taller space for the servers promote easier air flow through the equipment. Since power distribution and conversion is centralized to “Power Shelves”, this reduces the amount of intermediate power conversions along the way increasing the overall efficiency of a data center. This saves money money two-fold, by having more efficient cooling and by having less heat to remove.”
OCP Summit
The Open Compute Project will host this year’s US summit this week in San Jose, CA. The OCP Summit will give members and sponsors the ability to showcase their participation and contribution.