Legacy infrastructure is no longer fit for purpose in modern IT environments. Closed systems, high energy costs, and inflexible architectures are driving organisations to rethink their approach.

Open Compute Project (OCP) hardware provides a scalable, efficient, and modular alternative — delivering measurable reductions in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Circle B: Leading the Open Infrastructure Movement

Since 2018, Circle B has been at the forefront of OCP adoption in Europe, launching the continent’s first operational OCP Experience Centre.

In 2026, we’re taking it further with our new OCP Experience and Test Centre in Hoofddorp, just outside Schiphol.

“With the new OCP Experience and Test Centre in Hoofddorp, we are creating a dedicated space where customers can validate and fine-tune their infrastructure design before deployment.”

— Iris de Jager, International Marketing Manager, Circle B

Modular Architecture: Reduce Redundancy by 30%

OCP separates compute, storage, and networking into modular components.

Benefits include:

• Targeted upgrades (no full system refresh)

• Lower hardware redundancy (up to 30%)

• Future flexibility with DC-MHS standards

Energy and Cooling Efficiency with 48V DC

OCP racks use 48V DC bus bars to eliminate unnecessary AC/DC conversions, paired with front-to-back airflow and high-efficiency cooling.

These features result in:

• Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) consistently below 1.2

• Up to 50% lower cooling costs

• 30–40% less energy usage than legacy servers

Annual Energy Savings for 10 OCP Racks

Real-World Validation in Our Test Centre

“We will showcase the latest OCP certified hardware, allowing customers to test workload integration and performance under real conditions — including burn tests and thermal monitoring.”

— Aliaksei Malaletni, Product Manager, Circle B

Standardised Management and Automation Ready

OCP servers feature:

• Open BMC and Redfish APIs

• Tool-less access and serviceability

• Unified diagnostics across vendors

  Works seamlessly with tools like Ansible, Terraform, and Kubernetes.

Capital Efficiency – €200K to €300K Saved on 100 Nodes

• Traditional servers: €5,000–€8,000 per node

• OCP hardware: €3,000–€5,000 per node

• Capital savings on 100 nodes: €200,000 to €300,000

Proven Results

In a Circle B deployment for a European SaaS provider:

• TCO reduced by 37% over 5 years

• Physical rack density increased 2.5x, cutting space and infrastructure overhead

• Annual power and cooling savings: €220,000

Industries Benefiting Most

• Fintech – Flexible, cloud-native workloads

• Telecom – Scaling for 5G, MEC and IoT

• SaaS & Cloud providers – Cost-per-workload and space savings

• Media & Streaming – Low-latency content delivery

• AI & HPC – High-density, modular compute environments

• Enterprises modernising legacy IT

Operational Lease: Transition Without CapEx

Circle B offers a streamlined financial model:

• No upfront CapEx

• Fixed monthly payments

• Full service and refresh planning included