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OPEN COMPUTE PROJECT
A lighter load
By Greg McCulloch , CEO , Aegis Data
www . aegisdata . net
Scrap those blueprints for a radical new approach to data centre design offering efficiency , scalability and lower operating expenses
Over the last 20 years , the data centre has gone through a massive sea change in terms of the technologies deployed within it . Technologies have come in to play that have revolutionised the purpose of the facility , cloud being the obvious choice . But there has been one constant in the data centre that has given those in the industry some respite in a world of fast moving technology . This respite is of course the design of the facility itself , which has remained virtually unchanged since its inception . However , this is no longer the case with new designs set to cause the next big DC revolution .
Any data centre architect or designer will dedicate a large portion of the building schematics to arguably the most important rooms – those that house the UPS , generators and batteries – the fail-safe mainstay of any data centre . But it ’ s also one of the largest CapEx and OpEx costs , as well as space consumers in any site . Imagine a world where the data centre could be free of these burdens and open to greater steps in innovation . For sites situated in Tier 1 locations and major cities like London , the sudden availability of over a third of the floor space could dramatically increase capacity , or reduce costs both for the data centre and its customers . This idea might not be as far-fetched as first thought with the increasing availability of open-source hardware .
Open Compute Project Enter the OCP ; born in the heart of Silicon Valley in an effort to alter the traditional concept of the data centre . Founded by Facebook , Intel and Rackspace , OCP looks to redesign the traditional hardware of the data centre to make it into a more efficient enterprise . One of the fundamental changes that the OCP is driving is the way the data centre is conceived . By amending the hardware available to IT managers , the site as a whole can be altered . Condensing the battery into the server reduces the need for a separate room with a centralised UPS system , and the need for only ambient cooling removes the need for raised floor cooling systems .
Changing the entrenched view of the data centre industry , from the facility manager to the customer and the owner , into a new way of thinking isn ’ t going to happen overnight . A third party data centre provider building a new data centre today isn ’ t going to design it without a UPS room , a battery room , a generator room or a raised floor . The mindset of the business is that this is what ’ s needed to keep the site running should the power fail , and changing this view is likely to be an uphill struggle . No matter how much black site testing takes place , too many people need to be convinced for this to be made into a viable project – at least right now .
The OCP principles mean that in the event of a component upgrade , complete replacement isn ’ t always needed because upgrades are simpler and more costeffective . Data centre components designed to Open Compute standards are also easier to re-deploy for different applications , which reduces costs associated with application-specific systems . This all leads to space efficiency , scalability and lower operating expenses . Additionally , other benefits such as reduced vendor lockin as well as reduced operating costs across facilities are widely acknowledged among OCP participants .
Moving forward One of the biggest issues facing the project is the lack of clearly defined parameters , which results in a lack of certified understanding from the market . The OCP board , comprised of data centre luminaries from Facebook , Goldman Sachs , Microsoft , Intel and Rackspace , are working hard to devise a set of parameters by which OCP suitability can be applied . Terms already floating around the industry , like ‘ OCP Ready ’ only convey to prospective customers that the data centre has the ability to use OCP optimised hardware , but not the physical alterations to a site that encompasses OCP hardware . Wider racks beyond the industry standards for instance , require wider door frames . Through the development of official parameters in what makes a data centre OCP optimised , we ' re likely to see the slow increase in the number of data centre providers being able to offer this service and the number of those taking them up on it increasing .
Education is key when it comes to the growth of OCP ideas and infrastructure within the data centre . With the recent on boarding of Asian e-commerce site Alibaba to the OCP , to open source its cooling solutions , the Project continues to gain recognition from big players in the industry and tops 200 organisational members . The innovators behind the OCP and its members who see the benefits for all are optimistic of the changing attitudes . As we look to the future , it might be some time before we see the first OCP purpose built data centre , but when we do I ’ m sure we can expect others to quickly follow suit as its technology starts to cement itself within the modern IT infrastructure . n
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