Open Compute Developing Wider Rack Standard

1sockchuck writes "Are you ready for wider servers? The Open Compute Project today shared details on Open Rack, a new standard for hyperscale data centers, which will feature 21-inch server slots, rather than the traditional 19 inches. "We are ditching the 19-inch rack standard," said Facebook's Frank Frankovsky, who said the wider design offered better heat removal and a unified approach to power, including a 12 volt busbar. The Open Compute Project, developed by Facebook to advance open source hardware design, believes an open approach can avoid the mistakes of blade server chassis design."

Comments

Re:Server width is changing Rack Width isn't

[IGnatius T Foobar]

That "extra cruft in rack design" is where your cables go. I have an 18,000 sqft data center over here and I can tell you from experience that what you call "cruft" isn't nearly enough space for all of the cables once things start getting dense. We are actually considering 23" (telecom standard) racks with 19" rails in them for cabinets that aggregate the networking gear, just for this reason.

But oh no, far be it from Facebook to actually work with the industry. They screwed up the Internet and now they're going to screw up your data center.