Webinar: Exploring Open Compute Project and Why Colocation Providers Should be OCP-ready

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If you still think of the Open Compute Project (OCP) as some new effort that only Internet Giants need to be concerned with, not your colocation company, you’d do well to think again. It’s been 8 years since OCP was launched and the project has grown to include dozens of companies – while demonstrating impressive success.

Study Shows Growth in OCP Architecture for Energy Efficiency

A 2018 study of the European data center market by IHS Markit found 22 percent of respondents were already using OCP equipment in an effort to reduce energy consumption in their data centers, while another 44 percent were planning to investigate it. Use of OCP hardware was one of the top improvements companies made to impact data center energy efficiency, as 20 percent of the respondents stated. Other improvements that respondents integrated to their data center were: free cooling, containment panel install, and increased server inlet temperature.

Another telling stat from the study: nearly two-thirds of respondents (65 percent) are considering alternative vendors to their current supply chain.

This IHS Markit study showed revenue in 2017 from OCP gear reached $1.2 billion – from companies that are not on the OCP board. (Board member companies are Facebook, Rackspace, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs and Intel, so you know the actual figure is far higher). Even more impressive, the IHS Markit study predicts OCP sales among non-board member companies will surpass $6 billion by 2021. That translates to a 5-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 59% for OCP equipment while the total market growth will be only in the low single digits, IHS Markit predicts.

Why OCP is a Great Fit for Colocation Providers

OCP has always been about efficiency, scalability and openness. OCP designs promote simplicity, both in the hardware itself and in rack configurations, as well as repeatability, which is crucial for scalability. Openness, of course, means more choice.

All of this should be welcome news to colocation providers. But it’s clear that many have questions about OCP and how it applies to their data centers.

A ‘Must Attend’ Webinar – OCP-ready for Colocation Providers

To help address those questions, we held a webinar on Feb. 20, 2019 with two OCP executives:

• Bill Carter, Chief Technology Officer at OCP. Bill spent 33 years as a systems architect at Intel and was the company’s OCP liaison before joining the organization himself to help further OCP’s efforts on operational efficiency and collaboration among technology providers and end users.
• Steve Helvie, VP of Channel for the OCP. Steve helps educate organizations on the benefits of open hardware designs and the value of “community-driven” engineering for the data center. He works closely with solution providers and manufacturers to help organizations adopt OCP infrastructure.

We talk about the successes OCP has delivered to date, including a 15 percent better use of volume, airflow, and reduced deployment time/maintenance costs. We address how OCP rack architectures presents a great opportunity for colocation providers to deliver a superior compute experience, while realizing significant data center efficiencies.

You’ll leave knowing the drivers behind OCP, how it helps colocation providers mitigate risk and control costs, and how you can become a recognized OCP Ready™ colocation data center – fostering future business growth.

Interested in learning more? You can now access this discussion as an on-demand webinar, “Open Compute Project: Why Colocation Providers Should be OCP-ready,” which is part of the Schneider Electric Digital International Colocation Club series.