The OCP Ready™ program was created by the Open Compute Project Foundation (OCP) in 2019 and has been successfully operating and expanding globally since its inception. There are now seven OCP Ready™ certified data centers in six countries. One proven way of increasing the adoption of OCP hardware is to help users to find suitable colocation facilities. Guidelines created by the Data Center Facility (DCF) Project Team serve as a reference for data center operators and tenants who want to understand the fundamental facility requirements to deploy OCP IT gear into their IT technical space. Data centers that meet these guidelines and are approved by the DCF Project receive the certification as an OCP Ready™ facility.
On August 24, 2022, the white paper “OCP Ready™ Data Centers - Program Mission, Methodology, and Case Studies” became publicly available in the OCP contributions database (link below).
This publication explains to the OCP Community the program's mission and methodology and explores the drivers for certification, case studies and the future outlook for the program.
The Path to Publication
Under the guidance of DCF leadership, it was suggested that a white paper would be the format best suited to provide an update on the current status and future direction of the OCP Ready™ facility recognition program.
OCP Ready™ White Paper
The white paper explains the purpose of the OCP-Ready™ program and it explores the drivers for both Colocation Solution Providers (Colo SPs) that seek OCP-Ready™ certification, and OCP users who use the program to identify suitable data centers to host their OCP IT gear. Included in the document is an overview of the current OCP-Ready™ data center estate, case studies from current Colo SPs, and the future development of the program.
Drivers for Adoption
Drivers were identified during the duration of the program for a Colocation Solution Provider to seek OCP-Ready™ certification for their data center, and for an OCP user to use this program to identify suitable data centers to host their OCP IT gear. These key drivers, identified from each of their different perspectives were found to be:
Colo Solution Provider
- Vendor agnostic - System agnostic
- Flexibility in supply chain (availability, cost, etc.)
- Certification compliance
- Demonstrates meeting 3rd party criteria
- Meets customer certification requirements
- Sustainability credentials
- Colo Solution Provider differentiator
- Fulfill the need of OCP users that want to move into a production environment
- Demonstrates excellence in data center design and technical engineering
OCP User
- OCP Readiness
- Certification compliance
- Proven benefits for hardware and software OCP Solution Providers
- Industry leading efficiency and sustainability metrics
- Reduced total cost of ownership (TCO)
Summary of OCP-Ready™ Facilities
A summary of the OCP-Ready™ certified data centers is included and the estate now has eleven data centers in nine countries with the key parameters listed below:
- Total White Space Area - 34,000 sq metres (371,000 sq feet)
- Total Critical IT Power - 79.5 MW
- Average Site Design PUE - 1.29
- Average Site Annualized PUE - 1.41
Case Studies
Case studies from three of the OCP Colo SPs maincubes, Kao Data, and Hydro66 are included in the white paper, each with their own unique story told in their own words about the exemplary service they provide to OCP users, with an example OCP use case. The Colo SPs also provided insights on the key drivers that they have identified for being certified OCP Ready™ .
Next Steps
The OCP-Ready™ Facility Recognition Program has proven since its inception that it has a key role to play in assisting with the increased adoption of OCP hardware outside of the hyperscale users. Future developments for the program will include:
- Creating guidelines for sustainability metric monitoring and measurement with alignment to the goals of the 5th tenet of Sustainability
- Incorporation of Operation Technology and Security requirements in the OCP-Ready™ colo site assessment to help improve resiliency in both the physical and OT network layers
- Adapt the current OCP-Ready™ requirements for Open Rack V3.0. Therefore giving recognition to Colo SPs whose data centers support air and liquid heat transfer in all their forms
- The inclusion of new forms of OCP-Ready™ facility recognition, that will widen its scope improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, and continue to support the increasing adoption of OCP hardware for HPC running AI, VR, AR, blockchains, and other highly intensive workloads.
View and download the white paper here:
https://www.opencompute.org/documents/ocp-ready-data-centers-program-mission-methodology-and-case-studies-rev-1-0-pdf
View a list of OCP Ready™ Data Centers 8 here:
https://www.opencompute.org/products?refinementList%5Bstatus%5D%5B0%5D=OCP%20Ready%E2%84%A2%20Data%20Centers&refinementList%5Bcategory%5D%5B0%5D=OCP%20Ready%E2%84%A2%20Data%20Centers&page=1