Open source creates transparency and community engagement, which accelerates the pace of innovation. We saw this happen in software, and needed it to happen in hardware to keep pace with the infrastructure that will be built in the years to come.
Could we have survived if hardware remained closed and proprietary? Yes, but the lack of innovation and lack of efficiency would have certainly become a gating factor to delivering rich online experiences to people around the world.
One example of the pace of change we need to support is the exponential growth in data storage. Data might have been growing then, but it’s exploding now, and it’s forcing CIOs, data-center managers and engineers to rethink how to efficiently store and manage all that information.