Facebook continues to design networking hardware with what it describes as the first open modular switch platform-- the "6-pack", a solution it claims is simpler than the hardware the likes of Cisco or Juniper offer.
As the name suggests, the 6-pack combines 6 smaller switches, specifically the Wedge top-of-rack switches Facebook revealed back in June 2014. It includes 12 independent switching elements (each switching 1.28Tbps) and comes in two configurations, one exposing 16x40GE ports to the front and 640G (16x40GE) to the back, and one exposing all 1.28T to the back.
Being designed to the social network's specifications, the 6-pack runs on an own OS (specifically FBOSS, a Facebook-developed Linux-based networking OS) on the local server and is completely independent, allowing the modification of any part of the system with no system-level impact.
Facebook says the 6-pack is currently in production testing, as are the Wedge and FBOSS, and the design will eventually make part of its Open Compute Project. Yet we continue to wonder-- is it set to become full-blown networking hardware maker?
