Google has recently joined Facebook in the social media network's Open Computer Project. The internet search giant has recommended a new server rack design that will enable cloud data centers to slash their energy bills even more.
Facebook initiated the OCP project six years ago. The social media company started this project in its bid to get its end-user companies join together and create their own data center equipment, without the unnecessary features that only jack up the costs for conventional vendor products.
Microsoft and other large cloud providers joined the bandwagon thereafter. However, Google which operates a number of the world's most technically advanced date centers, opted to stay away.
But during the OCP Summit in Silicon Valley on Wednesday, the internet search giant announced that it has already joined the party.
Google's announcement marks its first involvement with the OCP project. Currently, the project has a number of customers and hardware vendors in its roster which buy huge quantities of servers.
OCP's customers include Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Microsoft Corp, and Apple Inc. among others.
"It allows all the vendors to produce something that they know can be consumed by Facebook or Goldman Sachs or Yahoo or whoever else is in that space," said Urs Hölzle, Google cloud platform business chief.
According to Hölzle, Google has continuously worked on the company's energy-efficient 48-volt server racks starting in 2011. It has also shared the designs of the racks so that other companies can benefit in their power saving features made possible by the high-voltage hardware.
On the other hand, Facebook initiated the Open Computer Project in 2011 to encourage energy efficiency as server rooms kept on rapidly expanding within the economy and nearly everywhere. The social media company said the OCP's power-efficient designs were able to save them over $2 billion to date.
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