Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) may look like a fairly straightforward application. But behind the scenes is a tremendous infrastructure, which needs to manage over 1 billion users.

So, Facebook recently launched a new server technology called Group Hug. And it looks like a game-changer.

The technology is a new type of circuit board, which allows the mixing of chips from various manufacturers like Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) or ARM Holdings (NASDAQ:ARMH). Ultimately, it should lower the cost of servers because buyers won’t be locked in to a certain vendor.

But Facebook has gone even further by making the technology open-source through an organization called the Open Compute Project (OCP). This means it’s freely available.

Why do this? First of all, Facebook doesn’t care about selling servers. Besides, the company wants to encourage more innovation for server technology. That’s much more likely if the technology is easy to customize and adapt. Keep in mind that OCP already has over 50 members, including biggies like EMC (NYSE:EMC), SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) and yes, Intel and ARM.

The organization won’t be limited to just circuit board technology. Instead, the mandate is fairly broad, with the mission of finding efficiencies for data centers, such as with storage and virtualization.

That’s all extremely helpful for Facebook, especially as it continues to introduce data-intensive features like search and messaging.