Facebook to custom design computer hardware

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Facebook to custom design computer hardware

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Facebook, the world's largest social network, wants to get in on computer hardware as well.

08 April,2011 04:06 pm

The company has teamed up with Hewlett Packard Co, Dell Inc, Advanced Micro Devices, and Intel Corp to launch the Open Compute Project.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the project aimed to offer specifications and designs for more power-efficient computers that were specifically geared toward running Internet services.Zuckerberg said that the hardware put out by the mass manufacturers was not in line with what Facebook and other social applications needed to cater to specialised servers. Dell will build servers based on those technical specifications, while Synnex Corp will act as overall vendor for the systems. According to Facebook, the new servers will be 38 percent more energy efficient and cost 24 percent less than off-the-shelf products used to power its service.With more than 500 million users, Facebook is the worlds No. 1 Internet social network and is increasingly challenging established Web companies like Google Inc and Yahoo Inc as a top destination for Web surfers and a compelling advertising channel for marketers.