Facebook创新主板有望引发服务器革命

    就在Facebook宣布推出能让用户在自己的社交网络内快速查找信息的功能一天后，该公司就推出了另一项极具创新潜力的产品：一款用于服务器的开源主板，它被亲切地称为“集体拥抱”（Group Hug）。不出所料，比起前一天发布的消息来，这款看起来不怎么美观的硬件并没引起多大的轰动。但就改变数据中心的建设方式而言，它可能具有同样深远的影响。

    为什么呢？Facebook这款母主板允许不同厂家的芯片装在同一个插槽中。它意味着一台服务器就能容纳相互竞争的架构，比如英特尔公司（Intel）的x86技术或英国的安谋国际（ARM Holdings）的设计。如果这款“集体拥抱”能被采纳，它将在服务器行业激起重大变革。一直以来，这个行业所生产的专有设备总是无法有效兼容，并因此而著称。而且它可能为ARM芯片厂商开辟一条新的生路，助它们进军服务器市场。目前这个市场还是英特尔一家独大。

    “集体拥抱”主板是由Facebook开发的。但这家社交网络公司是通过“开放计算项目”（Open Compute Project，OCP）将开发工作“开源”给全球进行的。18个月前，为了将更有效的数据中心硬件设计众包出去，Facebook率先成立了这个项目组。当时，该项目只有一个正式成员——Facebook自己。但本周三，有近2,000人来到加州圣克拉拉市会议中心参加第四届OCP峰会。目前，该项目已有超过50家成员单位，包括英特尔、EMC、安谋国际、AMD和闪迪（SanDisk）这样的巨头。Facebook硬件设计副总裁弗兰克•弗兰克沃斯基说：“看到这么多劲敌同处一室真是有意思，这种做法还是有一定争议的。”

    按照Facebook的宏图，它绝不只是推出可更换芯片的新主板就了事。通过开放计算的成员单位和它自己的内部研发工作，它意在推动整个数据中心进行创新，涉及机架设计到新存储技术的方方面面。

    在本周三的开放计算峰会上，Facebook的基础设施工程部副总杰•帕里克做了一个主题演讲。其中谈到，目前在数据中心采用闪存——更多用于像智能手机这类较小的设备——已是大势所趋。实际上，开放计算新成员、企业级固态硬盘厂商Fusion-io公司已与潘多拉公司（Pandora）、Rhapsody公司和Ning公司等签署合作协议【据大会新闻报道称，Facebook和苹果公司（Apple）这类客户就更不在话下了】，并宣布将通过该项目公开部分硬件设计。

    Facebook有充分的理由推动数据中心技术提高效率和创新。它每天要存储约3.5亿张照片。处理并整理所有这些珍贵的照片——可能还需要用Facebook的新搜索功能筛选它们——对现有的数据中心技术来说实非易事。帕里克对《财富》杂志（Fortune）表示：“我可不能走到马克（扎克伯格）那儿说，接下来两年我拿这些数据中心没辙。我们一贯深谋远虑，行动迅速。”

    译者：清远

    One day after announcing a search feature that lets users quickly find information through their network, Facebook (FB) unveiled another potentially disruptive product: An open-source circuit board for servers affectionately dubbed Group Hug. Not surprisingly the aesthetically challenged piece of hardware generated much less hype than Facebook's earlier announcement. But could have just as much impact by changing the way data centers are built.

    Why? Facebook's mother of all motherboards allows chips from different manufacturers to be inserted into a common slot. That means a single server could house competing architectures, like Intel's (INTC) x86 technology or designs from U.K.-based ARM Holdings (ARMH). If adopted, Group Hug would be a radical shift in an industry that's known for building proprietary machines that don't tend to play nice together. And it could help pave the way for manufacturers of ARM-based chips to finally crack into servers, a market currently dominated by Intel.

    The Group Hug motherboard was developed at Facebook, but the social networking company is "open-sourcing" it to the world through the Open Compute Project (OCP), a group it spearheaded about 18 months ago in an effort to crowdsource more efficient data center hardware designs. Back then, the project had just one official member—Facebook. But on Wednesday, nearly 2,000 people gathered in a Santa Clara, Calif. convention center to participate in the fourth OCP Summit. The project now has over 50 members, including heavyweights like Intel, EMC (EMC), ARM Holdings, AMD (AMD) and SanDisk (SNDK). "It's really interesting to see all of these arch-rivals in the same room," says Frank Frankovsky, VP of hardware design at Facebook. "It's still somewhat contentious."

    Facebook isn't just pushing for new motherboards with interchangeable chips. Through Open Compute members and its own internal research and development, it's trying to drive innovation across the entire data center, from rack designs to new storage technologies.

    In a keynote address at Wednesday's Open Compute Summit, Facebook's VP of infrastructure engineering Jay Parikh said there's a big push to use flash storage—more common in small devices like smartphones—in data centers. Indeed, new Open Compute member Fusion-io (FIO) has signed on customers like Pandora (P), Rhapsody and Ning (not to mention Facebook and Apple (AAPL), according to press reports), and has announced it will open-source some of its hardware designs through the project.

    Facebook has good reason to drive more efficiency and innovation in data center technology. The company stores about 350 million photos per day. Processing and archiving all those baby pics—and presumably sifting through them with Facebook's new search function—is no easy task with current data center technology. "Going to Mark [Zuckerberg] and saying I can't do anything about the data center for the next two years doesn't work," Parikh told Fortune. "We think big and move fast."