Facebook unveils massive R&D lab

MENLO PARK, Calif. — When you think about hardware, Facebook is likely not the first company that comes to mind. But the social network is now investing more in hardware development than ever before.

Facebook on Tuesday opened the doors to its new 22,000-square-foot hardware research and developmenty lab to reporters, offering a peek inside the company's huge new R&D space. Here, engineers from teams across Facebook will be able to work on new projects, from future versions of the Oculus to new components for the company's many data centers. 

Dubbed "Area 404" (yes, after the error page), the space is equipped with industrial machinery that looks like it would be more at home in a factory than in the middle of Facebook's sprawling headquarters.

Among the equipment are enormous milling machines (for making prototypes), an electron microscope (to get a closer look at parts that have failed) and a water jet cutter (a tool that cuts metal and other material using super high pressure streams of water.)

These machines are far more serious than what you would typically find in a Silicon Valley R&D lab and the building itself had to specially modified to accommodate the equipment. The floor was completely removed and 100 pylons were inserted 60 feet into the bedrock underneath the building, which was then reinforced with rebar and 3 feet of concrete.

IMAGE: KARISSA BELL/MASHABLE

Now that the facility is done — construction began last fall — Facebook can begin moving its disparate teams of engineers into the space. The hope, is that having all hardware engineers under one roof, along with the upgraded equipment, will allow the teams to build new products faster than ever. Thanks to the new machinery, prototypes and testing that could previously only be completed by third-party partners can now be done by engineers at Facebook.

"We need to move extremely fast and make prototypes very rapidly," says Spencer Burns, CNC Model Maker at Facebook. "Our goal on the prototyping side, is to take prototypes that would normally take weeks or even months and bring that down to days."

So what exactly will they be building in this massive new lab? The short answer is: a little bit of everything.

Prototypes for future version of Oculus will be researched and created here, as will the outer shell and camera housing for the company's Surround 360 VR camera. There will even be research and development for parts for Acquila, Facebook's solar-powered drone.

Facebook's Spencer Burns with the company's Surround 360 3D camera, parts of which will be prototyped in the new Area 404 facility.

IMAGE: KARISSA BELL/MASHABLE

Though many of these represent new areas for the company, Jay Parikh, Facebook's head of engineering and infrastructure, pointed out that hardware is not a new endeavor for the social network, though the scale of its hardware development has ramped up considerably in the last couple years.

Much of their previous hardware efforts have revolved around their enormous data centers, which use custom-built server racks, switches and other components of Facebook's own design. These projects will also continue at Area 404. 

The company won't say how much it is spending on all this, though it's safe to say the investment is a substantial one, given the scale of the facility. That the company would invest so aggressively in some of its newest (and unproven) projects may seem like a risky move to some. But if Facebook can indeed speed up its testing and research as much as they say, then it might just be able to accomplish some of its more lofty goals a little sooner.