Definition 6: Discerning the Motives behind Facebook's Open Compute Announcement - Paul Hernacki

It39s not that I39m super paranoid or even a really hard core conspiracy theorist But the truth is that I39ve just watched far too many episodes of The XFiles to not have a natural tendency to always be questioning motives and trying to discern the reasons for people39s actions beyond what is offered on the surface So when I began reading about Facebook39s Open Compute initiative and after I finished geeking out on some of the cooler technical details my mind started wondering what else there might be to this announcementFrom a pure technical point of view I loved reading about it While a few of the accomplishments they list in their data center and hardware designs aren39t entirely revolutionary or even all that new there are a few that are definitely well beyond common design and which will assuredly influence and push the design of the next generation of data centers and hardware that is more commonly available Likewise their achievements in more efficient energy usage are noteworthy and to be greatly applaudedSo why do it Why open the kimono and publish all the specs to the world in a grand announcement Most major players in the tech industry that have a significant stake in the data center arena take a very different and carefully guarded approach to what is typically considered valuable intellectual property and competitive advantage From the hardware and software manufacturers to the data centers themselves to the utilities to the large service providers that leverage massive data centers like Google Amazon and Microsoft this is a massive market worth billions of dollars So why Why Why WhyFor my 002 I think it comes down to three main things1 Diminish your competition39s competitive advantage Make something they consider a core competency more of a commodity The real value of Facebook is in the services they provide to their users Making the underlying infrastructure more of a commodity no matter how highperformance specialized and sophisticated or cutting edge it is reduces advantage to be gained in that and forces the competition to focus more on the services being provided on top of it It likewise also has the impact of reducing costs for that infrastructure and taking the open source approach allows them to influence the next generation of design in their favor2 I agree with former Tumblr CTO Marco Arment that this makes a statement to the best and brightest of the technical talent In the battle for recruiting and retaining the best talent Facebook just sent a major signal3 Here39s my more controversial one which I39m kind of surprised I can39t really find anyone else talking about I think this was in many ways a serious PR move intended to counterbalance a lot of the bad press Facebook has received regarding privacy Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have definitely been weathering their fair share of questions regarding the privacy of their users and the use of that data I39ve written about my poor opinion of their privacy controls in the past Of course the reality is that the majority of Facebook users are anxiously and willingly handing over immense amounts of personal data to Facebook on a daily basis don39t really seem to be all that concerned about publishing a crazy amount of personal data and details every day and at the end of the day the essential nature and culture of the world of Facebook for its users is all about being extremely open about things we once kept pretty carefully guarded or at least confined more to our closer circles of friends and family So by going public with this level of detailed information about what was previously considered a company39s valuable and tobeguarded quotpersonal dataquot in many ways they embrace the same principles they extol for their users and embody in their platform From a PR perspective it also makes a move to shift the perception of Facebook and Zuckerberg to huge contributors to the industry champions of openness and environmentally conscious members of society instead of massive violators of personal privacy I39m not saying this is all it will take to shift those kinds of perceptions or that they won39t continue to face such scrutiny But I39d be surprised if this wasn39t a significant factor in what they are doing here and the approach they have takenI39ll stop short of conjecturing any relationship between Facebook and crop circles or alienhuman hybrid breeding programs I39ll also certainly be spending time reading more and more on this project as the tech definitely fascinates me Wearing just my CTO hat I think this kind of information sharing on such a topic is overall a good thing for the industry in which I work But that doesn39t mean a little healthy paranoia isn39t a good thingPaul Hernacki Chief Technology Officer is responsible for direction and strategy with regard to the technologies used to design and implement solutions for Definition 6 clients He can be reached at PaulHernackidefinition6comRead all Paul39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Defining InsightsCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerMediaBizBloggers is an openthought leadership blog platform for media marketing and advertising professionals companies and organizations To contribute contact Jackmediadvisorygroupcom The opinions expressed in MediaBizBloggerscom are not those of Media Advisory Group its employees or other MediaBizBloggerscom contributors Media Advisory Group accepts no responsibility for the views of MediaBizBloggers authors

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Definition 6: Discerning the Motives behind Facebook's Open Compute Announcement - Paul Hernacki

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