The Open Compute Project Foundation (OCP) is a global organization dedicated to the development and adoption of open, scalable computing infrastructure and driving innovation in hardware and software design. OCP hosts regular events to bring together industry experts, researchers, and practitioners to discuss the latest developments and trends in the field.
After a break of several years, the regional OCP Summit was held in Prague on April 19 and 20 as a conference and meeting point for the Open Compute Community in Europe. The venue was the Prague Congress Center, a fantastic building overlooking the picturesque city of Prague. With 564 attendees and 238 companies from 40 countries, it was a very diverse crowd. OCP Regional Summit attendees were in for an event with exciting content on the latest designs and developments of open data center hardware. The agenda focused on topics such as sustainability in design and operations, innovations from hyperscale DC operators, EMEA open solution providers and best practices, and data centers that are successfully developing and deploying open hardware technologies in the region. The two-day full conference program provided for a lot of input, exciting news and good discussions.
In addition to discussions with interested parties and customers, we also had the opportunity to exchange ideas with suppliers and partners (as can be seen in the pictures). For example, we were able to view the prototype of an OCPv3 rack from Legrand on site. But also the first prototype of a wooden OCP rack met with great interest.
Of course, the OCP Summit also dealt with the topic of sustainability. There was a separate track with many exciting presentations. Particularly noteworthy here is the Lecture by Professor Deborah Andrewswho presented the CEDaCI (Circular Economy for the Data Centre Industry) project. In her presentation, Professor Andrews dispelled some of the myths surrounding sustainability in data centers - for example, that sustainability is synonymous with energy efficiency or that Circular Economy is only about recycling.
All in all, it was an exciting few days with a lively and open community in beautiful Prague. We will definitely be back at the next Regional OCP Summit.
Links
The Regional OCP Summit keynotes are now available on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwLJ7_DB0CQ
Link to ScaleUp presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDBlZ61upbI