What is the Open Compute Project
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.
Overview
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.
“Vanity Free”
One of the signature things about OCP is called vanity free, if it doesn’t provide compute power or storage, you don’t need it. This philosophy keeps the equipment minimalist, utilitarian and ultimately lower cost than the more known OEM solutions. Bezels and pretty faceplates are out, efficiency is in.
Open Rack v1.0 versus v1.1 & v1.2
The v1.1 and v1.2 standards are lot more specific in relation to the mounting holes and mounting hole spacing when compared to v1.0. This makes it easier to interchange rails and accessories between different rack manufacturers.
To learn more about the Open Compute project click here.