

Facebook is looking for an ARM SoC server hardware engineer - luu
https://www.facebook.com/careers/department?dept=infrastructure&req=a0IA0000006cPWvMAM

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mik3y
Title is misleading, nothing suggests they are _making_ an SoC. It's a job req
for a systems engineer.

Some possibilities:

\- FB is designing some _non-compute_ datacenter ARM devices. For example,
environment monitoring, or a control plane processor for a network switch.
(Most likely IMO.)

\- FB is designing/bringing up mobile ARM devices, and the references to the
datacenter are a smokescreen to keep the project under wraps. Even if they
aren't taking the lead on the design, it's very useful to have engineers at
this level eg to audit/collaborate on the work of a partner like HTC.
Personally I think this is only a matter of time, if it hasn't long since
begun.

\- FB is building ARM _servers_. Edit: Originally wrote "very unlikely", but
perhaps more plausible than first thought given FB's public statements on the
matter (eg [1]).

[1] [http://www.zdnet.com/facebook-stretches-arm-chips-in-
datacen...](http://www.zdnet.com/facebook-stretches-arm-chips-in-datacentre-
tests-7000004707/)

~~~
jmgrosen
Why do you think that third situation unlikely? For example, HP will be
releasing their customizable ARM server, Moonshot[0], later this year.
Furthermore, Facebook's PHP VM, HHVM, already runs on 64-bit ARM[1].

[0]:
[http://h17007.www1.hp.com/us/en/enterprise/servers/products/...](http://h17007.www1.hp.com/us/en/enterprise/servers/products/moonshot/index.aspx)
[1]:
[https://cards.linaro.org/browse/CARD-327](https://cards.linaro.org/browse/CARD-327)

~~~
mik3y

      > Why do you think that third situation unlikely?
    

Using a non-Intel architecture for general-purpose compute slices seems like,
at minimum, a huge toolchain investment.

Things are probably better now than they were five years ago (eg there seems
to be LLVM support), but even assuming toolchain parity we're talking about
having two flavors of each binary to maintain; a new constraint to consider
when scheduling jobs; etc. (Edit: The HHVM ARM target is interesting, and
mitigates some of these).

It's not _impossible_ , but IMO pretty unlikely compared to the other more
"traditional" possibilities.

~~~
ChuckMcM
The tool chain is already pretty much there. That said Intel has been busting
its hump to make sure it has a Xeon offering that is competitive watt for watt
before serious server ARM chips make any inroads.

~~~
justincormack
Thats mostly true, but not 100%, eg the amount of optimisation may be less and
code is less tested so may have more bugs, which matter at scale.

There is quite a lot of assembly code in open source stuff, there was a survey
here for the arm64 porting
[https://wiki.linaro.org/LEG/Engineering/OPTIM/Assembly](https://wiki.linaro.org/LEG/Engineering/OPTIM/Assembly)
although much should be removed... (the 64 bit port could be what Facebook is
interested in and thats way less supported...)

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aray
Facebook was reported to be working on arm servers THREE YEARS AGO.
[http://semiaccurate.com/2010/08/23/facebook-first-jump-
arm-s...](http://semiaccurate.com/2010/08/23/facebook-first-jump-arm-servers/)

Also some reporting on Calxeda, who is ostensibly working on ARM servers:
[http://semiaccurate.com/2013/01/16/facebook-goes-arm-with-
ca...](http://semiaccurate.com/2013/01/16/facebook-goes-arm-with-calxeda-like-
semiaccurate-reported-2-years-ago/)

~~~
baq
related question: why people on HN don't seem to read semiaccurate? these guys
have some amazing insights, even if most of them are behind a paywall right
now.

~~~
3amOpsGuy
I didn't know about them until recently. To be honest, my first impressions of
their site weren't great, just based on visuals i assumed it was some
syndicated content with advertising.

How wrong was i. Consistently one of the best feeds in my feedly these days.

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prutschman
Facebook appears to be making a custom server based on an ARM SoC, not a
custom SoC.

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samstave
I believe Facebook suffers way too much from "Me too" disease (What apple
does, FB can do. What Google does, FB can do)

Honestly, FB is doing an awful lot of development and building ___around_ __a
product of declining value, as opposed to innovating on that product.

The product itself is a vertical silo of information which makes one feel
completely constrained.

No matter how many DCs they build (with US data access/control compliance), no
matter their supporting of the OpenCompute platform, their attempts to emulate
mobile innovation... the core of FB is a vertical column, groups and topics
are utterly broken and they have eroded a lot of trust (what little remained)
from their userbase.

Honestly, I just don't see any external value they can maintain.

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ballard
I'm curious if much will be open-sourced like
[http://www.opencompute.org/](http://www.opencompute.org/)

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stephengillie
Wait...did Facebook buy a fabrication plant?

~~~
ChuckMcM
This is the 21st century, you don't need a Fab any more, you just buy wafer
starts from TSMC or Global Foundaries.

~~~
stephengillie
The title originally said FB were making ARM SoC...

~~~
ChuckMcM
I understand, and nVidia makes graphics chips, but they don't have a
semiconductor fab. :-)

~~~
stephengillie
They don't?

~~~
ChuckMcM
Nope, not a one, see
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabless_manufacturing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabless_manufacturing)
for some more examples (like Qualcomm) but in general actually owning a fab is
considered old school.

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devx
Google should be doing the same thing, and ease up on the incestual
relationship with Intel.

~~~
wmf
[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/06/ibm_opens_up_power_c...](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/06/ibm_opens_up_power_chips_armstyle_to_take_on_chipzilla/)
"The consortium has the potential to establish Power architecture as a viable
option for applications running within Google's datacenters."

Also, I suspect that work about wimpy cores was done for a reason.

~~~
justincormack
PowerPC is unlikely to be for low power cores, although it could be. They are
still attractive as high end cores, perhaps in networking applications.

