Dive Brief:

• Google announced Wednesday that it joined the Open Compute Project, an initiative led by Facebook that takes an open source approach to creating a more efficient computing infrastructure.
• The Open Compute Project’s goal is to develop more green and affordable computer servers and to standardize data center technology
• The project touts other large tech companies as members, including Apple, HP, Microsoft, Rackspace, Cisco and Lenovo.  

Dive Insight:

In the past, Google did not show much enthusiasm for the project. The company is known for developing its own technology for running networks and data centers without externally sharing the plans, according to Bloomberg. 

But, Google has since changed its tune. 

"Our goal was to say here are things we really believe are good for the industry," said Urs Holzle, a senior vice president of technical infrastructure at Google said in an interview with Bloomberg. "It’s an opportunity to standardize."

Google already worked with Facebook to design a rack that will allow manufacturers to place more powerful chips into a future generation of data centers, according to Holzle. 

An open source approach to datacenter technology has the potential to reduce pollution, improve computing power and reduce costs for potentially thousands of companies. Facebook said it’s already saved $2 billion since the project launched in 2011.

Several large financial institutions and telecom companies, including Verizon, AT&T and Deustsche Telekom, are also involved in the project.