Why Use Lusture File System?

Lusture File System is designed for a large-scale, high-performance data storage system. Lusture was designed for High Performance Computing requirements – which scales linearly to meet the most stringent and highly demanding requirements of Media applications. 

Lustre file systems have high performance capabilities and open source licensing, it is often used in supercomputers. Since June 2005, it has consistently been used by at least half of the top ten, & more than 60 of the top 100 fastest supercomputers in the world, including the world's No. 2 and No. 3 ranked TOP500  supercomputers in 2014,Titan & Sequoia. 

 Lustre file systems are scalable and can be part of multiple computer clusters with tens of thousands of client nodes, hundreds of petabytes (PB) of storage on thousands of servers, and more than a terabyte per second (TB/s) of aggregate I/O throughput.  This makes Lustre file systems a popular choice for businesses with large data centers, including those in industries such as Media Service, Finance, Research, Life sciences, and Oil & Gas.

Facebook Disrupts Telecom with OpenCellular

Facebook today announced that it will launch OpenCellular, a mobile infrastructure platform designed to lower barriers to entry for would-be providers of Internet service to the developing world.

After facing a sharp rebuke to its Internet Basics program, Facebook has taken a more ambitious project to enable free Internet to areas that are currently under served.

OpenCellular is a customizable base chassis for a wireless access point which will connect devices using 2G, LTE or even Wi-Fi. The base chassis is designed to be modular to keep down costs and making it easier to deploy at a high point in an open area - like a tall tower or a tree.

OpenCellular is a wireless access point which will allow users to connect to Internet via cell phone devices. Keeping in mind that this is targeted at areas that are currently undeserved, I would guess that most users will connect with a cheap Android phones.

According to the blog post of Facebook engineer Kashif Ali: "We designed an innovative mounting solution that can handle high winds, extreme temperatures, and rugged climates in all types of communities around the world," The device can be deployed by a single person and at a range of heights — from a pole only a few feet off the ground to a tall tower or tree."

Facebook said that the emphasis in the design process was on keeping the design as modular and inexpensive as possible, as well as making it easy to deploy. Keeping in mind of a rural or remote installation location, the chassis can be powered from multiple sources PoE, Solar Panels, External Batteries etc.

Given Facebook's penchant for OpenSource and its contribution to OpenCompute Foundation, Facebook will eventually make the hardware design and the software running on OpenCellular will be made open-source eventually.

At this point, it is not clear as to how these OpenCellular base station will connect to Internet. It can be to a UAV drones or a direct satellite uplink.

A free wireless Internet access could be a game changer in rural areas of India & other parts of Asia, where the existing telcos make tonnes of money by charging for Internet and basic telephone calls. With free Internet, users can use Facebook's WhatsApp calling feature and use Facebook for local mass communication. This will effectively disrupt a whole lot of cell phone service providers business models all over the world, while Facebook will benefit indirectly by gaining more customers and users - which leads to greater advertisement revenues.

Facebook To Buy Oculus VR for $2 Billion!

Today, March 26th 2014, Facebook has announced plans to purchase Oculus VR, the company behind the Rift headset, for around $2 billion in cash and stock. This includes $400 million, and 23.1 million Facebook shares.

This acquisition indicates the value of Internet of Things (IoT) and brings new platform for Social Networking, taking users of Social Networking to a new level of Virtual Reality interactions.

Oculus VR brings in multiple technologies to force. First is a wearable mobile device Oculus Rift headset, a connected device (Like Google Glass an IoT), but its a lot more involved, the Virtual Reality technology will completely immerse the users into a virtual world.

When this technology is merged with Social Networking, one can create new experiences - which was impossible before. For example, a group of friends can play a game of Soccer - Virtually!

People can meet virtually and yet have a real life like experience. Oculus makes a virtual reality technology, the Oculus Rift headset, that allows you to enter a completely immersive computer-generated environment, like a game or a movie scene or a place far away. This incredible technology makes you feel like you are actually present in another place with other people. Its unlike anything one has experience before.

Actually, this level of Virtual Reality (VR) has been used in expensive flight simulators and other military training equipment. Oculus brings that platform into a more affordable price for general public.

"I'm excited to announce that we've agreed to acquire Oculus VR, the leader in virtual reality technology," said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a statement today.

Huge Impact on Facebook

Facebook is no tech slouch. Facebook has tremendous investments in new technologies - such as is face recognition technology called "DeepFace Program". It is also creating a host of new programming tools such as Facebook Hack.

Recently Facebook acquired WhatsApp, which brings in real-time mobile to mobile communication technology. And now with Oculus acquisition, Facebook can take this VR technology, mobile-to-mobile communication technology from WhatsApp and merge both of it to its social networking platform & with new programming tools & visual processing technology,  Facebook can create a new experiences for its users. And hope that youth of the world will continue to use Facebook, and prevent the decline in its market base.

"Over the next 10 years, virtual reality will become ubiquitous, affordable, and transformative," says an Oculus blog post. And with Oculus VR platform Facebook can change social networking forever.

Also see: 

Next Technology Disruptor: Internet of Things

Why is Facebook buying WhatsApp for $19Billion?

How to identify and create disruptive innovation that customer would buy?