除了你們之外,，還有別人在從事數(shù)據(jù)中心硬件開(kāi)源的工作嗎,？

??? 我們與許多其他項(xiàng)目建立了合作關(guān)系，不過(guò)我們特別關(guān)注的是數(shù)據(jù)中心的硬件設(shè)計(jì)。據(jù)我所知,，目前沒(méi)有其他項(xiàng)目著力于這個(gè)領(lǐng)域,。過(guò)去的做法是把所有的牌都緊緊捂在胸前，不與任何人分享,。不過(guò)開(kāi)源操作系統(tǒng)Linux的成功以及它對(duì)市場(chǎng)的影響啟迪了我和Facebook的所有人,，激勵(lì)我們?nèi)⑴c這件事。我們希望硬件開(kāi)源也能產(chǎn)生類似的影響,。

你們有沒(méi)有哪些技術(shù)是不愿意“開(kāi)源”或與別人分享的,？

??? 我們?cè)诩夹g(shù)開(kāi)源的問(wèn)題上考慮得非常周到。我們分享了數(shù)據(jù)中心選址的方法,。不過(guò)我們?cè)诜窒頂?shù)據(jù)中心模板的時(shí)候并沒(méi)有包含光纖主要接入點(diǎn)的分享,，因?yàn)槲覀冋J(rèn)為這是一個(gè)安全性問(wèn)題。我們?cè)谶@種問(wèn)題上不會(huì)選擇開(kāi)源,，不過(guò)那是因?yàn)槲覀冃枰Ｗo(hù)自己以及我們的終端用戶,。我們?cè)趹?yīng)用領(lǐng)域的關(guān)鍵創(chuàng)新也不會(huì)開(kāi)源，因?yàn)檎悄切┆?dú)特的技術(shù)造就了Facebook的獨(dú)特地位,，同時(shí)那也是9億多用戶選擇Facebook的主要原因,。英特爾也是開(kāi)放計(jì)算工程的創(chuàng)始成員之一，同時(shí)它也是業(yè)內(nèi)知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)資源最豐富的公司之一,。雖然英特爾的工程師們也（為開(kāi)放計(jì)算工程）做出了大量貢獻(xiàn),，但我們并不指望他們會(huì)分享他們?cè)O(shè)計(jì)CPU的技術(shù)。

你們的設(shè)計(jì)有一部分實(shí)際上簡(jiǎn)化甚至取消了數(shù)據(jù)中心的某些功能,，很多人可能對(duì)此感到詫異,。你能解釋一下嗎？

??? 可能很多人都會(huì)覺(jué)得在服務(wù)器上貼上一堆塑料Logo是一個(gè)好點(diǎn)子,。不過(guò)有時(shí)候想把事情做簡(jiǎn)單反而很難,。人們有時(shí)會(huì)把事情過(guò)度復(fù)雜化。一個(gè)設(shè)計(jì)可能看起來(lái)非常精美,，因?yàn)樗懈鞣N出色的功能,。不過(guò)如果后退一步，問(wèn)問(wèn)自己怎樣能用最少的部件把事情做好,，你就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn),，有時(shí)簡(jiǎn)單才是最難的部分,。拿有些最成功的移動(dòng)設(shè)備來(lái)說(shuō),，當(dāng)你把它們從包裝盒里拿出來(lái)的時(shí)候，它們看起來(lái)并不像是無(wú)所不能的樣子,。它只是一塊屏幕加一個(gè)按鈕,。但是在開(kāi)機(jī)之后，你讓它做什么它就能做什么,，這時(shí)人們才真正體會(huì)到這個(gè)設(shè)計(jì)的美和簡(jiǎn)約,。但人們看不到他們?yōu)榱撕?jiǎn)化設(shè)計(jì)所付出的工藝上的努力,。

開(kāi)放計(jì)算工程下一步的打算是什么？

??? 吸引我們的方向有很多,，其中大多數(shù)集中在數(shù)據(jù)中心和服務(wù)器的設(shè)計(jì),，而且我們的工作已經(jīng)擴(kuò)展到了（服務(wù)器）機(jī)柜上。存儲(chǔ)空間領(lǐng)域有可能升溫,，而且我們對(duì)網(wǎng)絡(luò)設(shè)計(jì)也有很濃厚的興趣,。不過(guò)在接下來(lái)的六個(gè)月里，我們的很多活動(dòng)都會(huì)圍繞著存儲(chǔ)——也就是如何讓開(kāi)源存儲(chǔ)真正地改變市場(chǎng),。希望它能幫助企業(yè)選擇最佳的硬件和軟件,。未來(lái)隨著云計(jì)算趨勢(shì)的興起，大型數(shù)據(jù)中心運(yùn)營(yíng)商的數(shù)量會(huì)有所減少,。我們現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)到了一個(gè)拐點(diǎn),，以后一切可能會(huì)變得更標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化一些。不過(guò)關(guān)于未來(lái)最令人興奮的是,，我們現(xiàn)在可以應(yīng)用業(yè)內(nèi)最好的腦力,，來(lái)滿足計(jì)算方面最新、最獨(dú)特的要求,。

譯者：樸成奎

Are there any other efforts out there to open source data center hardware?

??? We have partnerships with a whole bunch of other projects , but we are specifically focused on the hardware design in the data center, and to my knowledge there are no other projects specifically around this. The old method is to keep all your cards close to your chest without sharing. The biggest project that inspired me and all of us at Facebook to get involved is the open source operating system Linux and the impact it had on the market. We want to have a similar impact on hardware.

Are there technologies that you won't "open source" and share with others?

??? We think really, really carefully about what we open source. We've shared how we pick data center sites. But when we open sourced our data center blueprints we didn't include the main point of entry for fiber runs—we felt it was a security issue. So there are some things like that that we don't put out in the open. But that's really because we need to defend ourselves and our end users. The thing we won't open source are the key innovations we have in the application space. Those are the unique things that differentiate Facebook and the reason more than 900 million people come to Facebook. Intel is one of the founding members of the Open Compute Project. It also happens to have one of the richest IP portfolios in the industry. Intel's engineers have made significant contributions [to Open Compute] but we wouldn't expect them to share how they design CPUs.

A lot of people would be surprised to know that some of what you've done with your designs is actually simplifying and taking away capabilities. Can you explain?

??? I don't think anyone would argue that putting a bunch of plastic logos in front of a server is a good idea. But sometimes simple is actually really hard. People sometimes overcomplicate things. When you look at a design it might look really elegant because it's got all kinds of whiz-bang features. But when you step back and ask how you can do this with minimum components, sometimes making it simple is really the hard part. Some of the most successful mobile devices don't look like they do anything when you pull them out of the box; it's a flat screen with just one button. But when you turn it on and it does exactly what you ask it to do, then you really understand the beauty and simplicity of the design. You don't see the engineering efforts that went into making it simple.

So what's next for the Open Compute Project?

??? We're getting a lot of traction. Most of it is in data center and server design, and we've extended it to [server] racks. The storage space is something you'll see heat up, and there's also a lot of interest in networking. But a lot of the activity in the coming six months is going to be around storage—how open source storage really changes the market. Hopefully it will let companies choose the best of breed from both hardware and software. In the future there will be a smaller number of larger data center operators because of the trend towards cloud computing. We've reached an inflection point where things can get a little more standardized. What's exciting about the future is that we can now apply the brain power to new and unique requirements in computing.