I came across a research paper recently where on page 7, under Figure 1, one bullet reads as follows:

The components of an OCP server are not open source and must be procured.

For this to make the list of a professional research paper focusing on the value chain of "hyperscale", Enterprise-class computing hardware is significant.

It's interesting that if I scaled the Kestrel-3 design up to cover the needs of enterprise computing, it would cover the first three bullet points deftly. This technically means that a suitably designed successor to the Kestrel-3 is actually better positioned for service in the core of a "hyperscale" corporation's IT infrastructure than current OCP offerings would be.

While I doubt companies like Google or Rackspace would make attempts to use Kestrel-derived hardware, I can definitely see opportunities in companies looking to adopt more open infrastructure choices, but who simultaneously do not have or desire investment in the procurement process.

When I read articles like this, I cannot help but think about how I truly wish I could work on Kestrel full-time. *sigh*