When you upload your pictures and posts to Facebook, all that data is being stored somewhere. Facebook’s storage infrastructure is massive, but it’s not entirely a mystery, at least on the server side.
Facebook is the leader of the Open Compute Project, an effort that kicked off in April of 2011. With Open Compute, the goal is to open source the specifications behind Facebook’s data center designs. Initially the effort released server-related specifications, but is now also looking at storage as well. That’s where the Open Vault effort comes into play.