In a move that is aimed at developing its own open switch, in direct competition with companies like Cisco, Facebook has announced it is moving forward with its own version of Linux called FBOSS.
The move is part of the social network's continued effort to move away from traditional data center action and into more flexible systems for users.
It is also the continuation of Facebook's ongoing push into new arenas, and should help the company create momentum as it aims to deliver Internet services to the world, especially those areas that are under-served. By having its own data switch, Facebook gains more control over pushing out new software and innovative ideas to more than 1 billion users.
Facebook's Yuval Bachar and Adam Simpkins wrote in a blog post that they are "big believers in the value of disaggregation -- of breaking down traditional data center technologies into their core components so we can build new systems that are more flexible, more scalable, and more efficient."
But the tech world is interested in what they wrote toward the end of the post, where they announced they had created "Wedge" that runs on the social network's own Linux creation.
It is part of Facebook's Open Compute Project, where Simpkins and Bachar said Wedge and FBOSS are "currently being tested in our network; We plan to propose the designs for 'Wedge' and the central pieces of 'FBOSS' as contributions to OCP [an industry group], so others can start consuming the designs and building on them."
JP Morgan analyst Rod Hall says the move is a shot toward Cisco, which has been seeing its so-called white box switching equipment hit some trouble over a number of flaws, and that Facebook's announcement could be a game-changer.
Hall said "We had flagged in our Cisco downgrade report that open industry groups (such as OCP, ONF, etc), vendors (such as Dell) and OS companies (Cumulus, Nuage Networks, etc.) will continue to make bare-metal switch deployment easier over time."
He continued, stating "other companies like HP may eventually decide to begin distributing bare metal switches as well with whatever OS the customer wants pre-loaded. We continue to see much less expensive bare-metal switching as highly deflationary for the overall switching market."
Either way, it could be a monumental move by Facebook to branch out and deliver new tech on a number of platforms for ease of computing.
