LinkedIn, HPE launch nonprofit to support open data center designs
A group of technology companies including LinkedIn and HPE announced Tuesday that they're launching the Open19 Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at supporting data center designs that are open, economical, and customizable.
Other founding members include Flex, GE Digital, and Vapor IO.
The foundation sounds similar to the Facebook-launched Open Compute Project. However, OCP shares datacenter designs that largely benefit major internet companies. The Open19 Foundation, by contrast, will focus on optimizing data centers of any size, with data center models that can fit any location or facility footprint.
One of the foundation's first contributions will be the Open19 Platform industry specification, built, and incubated by LinkedIn. It defines a cross-industry common server form factor using racks, cages, and pre-defined network and power.
"The Open19 Platform represents a simple solution for a complex problem," said Yuval Bachar, president of the Open19 Foundation and a principal engineer at LinkedIn, in a statement.
HPE VP Justin Hotard said in a statement that his company "sees clear customer benefits for implementing modularized offerings that fit the needs of cloud businesses today and for the future."
The foundation is now open for contributions and accepting new members.