Facebook made data-center hardware “open” by publishing designs—including technical specifications and mechanical CAD files—for others to use, test, and improve. Announced on April 7, 2011, the Open Compute Project (OCP) applied open-source collaboration to servers and facility infrastructure, not just software.
Why Facebook opened its hardware designs
As Facebook’s service grew, the company needed data-center infrastructure that could scale without wasting energy or capital. Its custom data center in Prineville, Oregon, became the basis for an effort to share the engineering behind that infrastructure.
At the OCP launch, Facebook vice president of technical operations Jonathan Heiliger said, “We think it’s time to demystify the biggest capital expense of an online business — the infrastructure.” The idea was to let other organizations inspect and adapt designs rather than keep the work proprietary.
What Facebook released on April 7, 2011
Facebook announced OCP on April 7, 2011, and shared designs covering servers, power, racks, batteries, and data-center facilities. The released material included technical specifications and mechanical CAD files. OCP was intended as a collaborative project: participants could use the designs, test them, and suggest changes.
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Meta’s engineering team described the invitation this way: “We want you to tell us where we didn’t get it right and suggest how we could improve.” It also said, “The ultimate goal of the Open Compute Project, however, is to spark a collaborative dialogue.”
What changed in the physical design
The 2011 designs rethought power delivery, server layout, and cooling. Rather than simply publish a conventional server blueprint, Facebook described a set of choices intended to remove inefficiencies across the facility and the hardware inside it.
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Power distribution and simplified components
The Prineville design used 480-volt power distribution and a direct power interface for servers. Facebook also removed nonessential parts from the equipment. The engineering goal was to reduce conversion losses and avoid spending energy on components that did not contribute to the computing work.
A taller chassis and lower fan-power demand
The Open Compute server chassis was 1.5U tall, or 2.63 inches. Facebook said the larger space allowed larger 60 mm fans and heat sinks. In its 2011 figures, fan power accounted for 2–4% of server power, compared with 10–20% for a standard server. Those are Facebook’s reported figures for the designs it described, not a universal measurement for every server.
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Facility cooling and heat reuse
The data-center design used hot aisles and reused heat rather than treating server cooling as a separate problem from facility design. The broader approach linked server airflow, cooling equipment, and the building layout.
What the reported energy and cost figures mean
Facebook reported that the Prineville facility achieved a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.07, compared with 1.5 at its existing facilities. PUE compares total data-center energy use with the energy delivered to IT equipment; a lower value means less overhead energy for cooling and other facility needs.
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Facebook also reported 38% less energy for the same work and 24% lower data-center infrastructure cost in 2011. These were company-reported results for its facilities and designs. They show the gains Facebook said it achieved, but they are not a like-for-like total-cost study covering every OCP deployment or a guarantee that another operator would see the same savings.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the project expanded beyond the launch designs
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Facebook published motherboard designs for both AMD and Intel processors. Later OCP work included doubled-density compute designs, extending the project from the original server concepts toward denser configurations.
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Storage
A storage platform described in 2011 could support up to 50 hard drives in a fully loaded node. Facebook initially released this storage design for community feedback while it was still being tested, so it should not be read as a finished or universally deployed product specification.
Which companies helped build the ecosystem
Early participants included AMD, Dell, HP, Intel, and Synnex. Their involvement helped bring processor, server, and supply-chain expertise into a project whose designs were meant to be examined and iterated on by more than Facebook alone.
By 2015, Facebook described OCP as covering every major physical component of its data-center stack and said the effort had saved $2 billion in infrastructure costs over three years. That figure is Facebook’s 2015 account of its own infrastructure savings, not a measured industry-wide total.
What OCP openness does—and does not—mean
OCP made design information available for collaboration, but openness does not mean every component is interchangeable or that every design is suitable for every facility. Specifications evolved over time, and the 2011 designs are historical examples rather than current consumer products. The documented case is about enterprise data centers and hardware suppliers; it does not establish consumer adoption.
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The strongest supported benefits are the efficiency and cost improvements Facebook reported for its own facilities, plus a process for sharing and improving physical infrastructure designs. The figures should be understood in that context, rather than as a blanket promise for any organization adopting an OCP design.
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