Two years ago, Facebook set out to change the server and storage industries by creating freely available hardware designs that gave customers more flexibility than those on offer from the HPs and Dells of the world.
Now, Facebook aims to knock Cisco and the other top network vendors down a peg by leading a nearly identical project for switches. Facebook is leading this disruption of the data center hardware industry through the Open Compute Project, which takes the open source approach typically applied to software such as Linux and aims it at hardware.
Thus far, the project had worked on reference designs for servers, motherboards, storage, racks, and interconnects. Facebook itself has used these designs to buy hardware directly from original design manufacturers (ODMs) that build servers exactly to Facebook's specifications. This approach strips out many of the hardware and software features companies like HP and Dell insert into general-purpose products, making them cheaper and more efficient. Going directly to ODMs is easier for companies with the purchasing power of Facebook, but some vendors are embracing Open Compute Project designs, allowing even smaller customers to benefit.
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via http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/05/facebook-aims-to-knock-cisco-down-a-peg-with-open-network-hardware/
