After Microsoft and IBM, who joined the OCP no later than last month, it is NVIDIA’s turn to seat itself at the discussions table. Initiated by Facebook more than two years ago, the goal of the Open Compute Project is to “open” hardware and software specifications for data center components. Whether it regards servers, storage or networks, the underlying idea is to develop a computing infrastructure that aims to be at the same time the most effective and the least expensive to buy and operate.

With the initiative gaining significance in the industry, attracting more and more high profile members, the appeal for NVIDIA, like for others, is obvious. Participating, sometimes substantially, in exchanges and key decisions regarding the design of this new infrastructure is of the essence for influential companies with long-term vision– not to mention that good ideas are always good to take. It should also be noted that many members of the project – including HP, Dell and SuperMicro – are already long-time partners of NVIDIA, notably for the integration of Tesla accelerators.