Intel, TE Connectivity, Big Switch Networks, Nokia, Qualcomm, Cumulus Networks, Broadcom, Mellanox, AMD and Quanta are the some of the big vendors to social media network Facebook.
Intel emerged as Facebook’s top vendor in terms of contract volume. Intel mainly supplies server chips and processors for its servers and data centers .
Intel supplies Xeon D and Skylake series of chips to power Facebook’s data centers. Intel is also partnering with Facebook on developing an AI chip in the second-half of 2019. Intel will be able to challenge NVIDIA’s dominance in the AI processors space, according to MTN Consulting.
Facebook, which posted $15 billion revenue in Q1 2019, is spending heavily on data center expansion and new fiber routes.
Facebook’s Capex of $13.9 billion in 2018 continues to grow with new super-sized cloud data center campuses.
Facebook is adding three sites to its global data center footprint including Ireland, Denmark, and $1 billion data center in Singapore.
The social media giant announced revamping its data centers at the recent OCP Global Summit, with a next gen data center fabric design coupled with two new self-designed modular switches.
F16, Facebook’s new data center fabric design, is based on Broadcom ASIC and has 4x the capacity of the earlier design with more scalability. The F16 fabric will include Facebook-designed switches – Minipack (developed by Edgecore) and 7368X4 (Arista) – that could run on Facebook’s network operating system FBOSS.
The new data center fabric topology would allow Facebook to serve demand by using the existing 100G optics and 100GE switching, but with 4x capacity increase in providing for 400G optical link speeds.
Facebook’s network engineers claim F16 is 2.25x flatter and simpler than its previous design. The new jointly-developed modular switches, which have been contributed to the Open Compute Project, are custom-designed to accommodate the demand from Facebook’s 2.4 billion active users.
Facebook announced joint-development of data center switches with Arista Networks in March 2019, to create networks that are easier to scale against the backdrop of increased network growth and data center footprint expansion
The 7368X4 switch from Arista can run on Facebook’s FBOSS (Facebook Open Switching Software) or Arista’s own EOS (Extensible Operating System) or both. The deal also allows Facebook to diversify its supply base for data center switches that are supplied by Edgecore Networks and Cumulus Networks.
MTN Consulting said in its latest report that building out its own network of data centers and fiber cables is central to Facebook’s network strategy; the social
networking giant is also a key open source facilitator, now pushing for cheaper, simpler telecom gear through TIP.
