Friday, April 8, 2011

Facebook Looks To Share Lessons From Oregon Data Center

Social networking giant Facebook unveiled details of its new Prineville data center, as part of an effort to pass on the advancements it has made at that location to other companies. Facebook said its new open Compute Project will share specification and best practices for creating the most energy efficient and economical data centers, based on its experiences in its new Prineville, Oregon data center. Facebook said that center consumes 38 percent less energy that its existing facilities, and cost 24 percent less. The firm used such techniques as reusing hot air in the winter from the data center to heat offices, eliminating the use of a central uninterruptible power supply, to using its own, custom designed servers, power supplies, battery backup, and other systems. Facebook said it will publish full specifications and mechanical designs for the hardware being used in the data center to the open effort.