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Facebook Inc. has created a high-speed, long-distance networking system it plans to share with other companies, in the social network's latest push to spur technological advances and drive down hardware prices.

The company, which has already shared designs for server systems and data switching gear, on Tuesday disclosed details of its first device designed to link geographically dispersed data centers using fiber-optic cables.

Facebook plans to encourage hardware companies to sell the device, dubbed Voyager, and other companies to write software to manage it.

Facebook, like other big web companies, is grappling with steady growth in online video and other applications that require faster communications. The company since 2011 has tried to spur improvements by developing and publishing hardware specifications that others can use, borrowing on principles long used in open-source software.

Voyager was developed as part of the Telecom Infra Project, a technology-sharing effort announced by Facebook in February that followed its founding of the similar Open Compute Project five years ago.

Voyager is the latest example, built on external technology contributions that include chips from Acacia Communications Inc. and software from startup SnapRoute Inc.

Facebook calls Voyager the first use of optical networking in a white-box product, a term previously applied in computing, storage and other categories of networking equipment. The phrase refers to generic equipment made by lesser-known hardware makers, such as Taiwan's Quanta Computer Inc., that typically offer lower prices than big-name vendors.

White-box products have helped fuel a parallel trend called software-defined networking. Instead of using proprietary programs bundled with products sold by hardware vendors, some customers are turning to software based on open standards from independent vendors such as SnapRoute, a company led by a team that once ran data centers at Apple Inc.

Industry executives and analysts say relying on software from hardware makers—as most buyers of optical gear do now—tends to keep system prices high and slow the rate at which different pieces of a system are improved.

"At Facebook, we believe that a key to efficiency is enabling open and unbundled solutions," Jay Parikh, Facebook's head of engineering and infrastructure, said in a blog post.

Voyager is a flat box with routing and switching features and four ports designed to each send data over fiber networks at 200 gigabits per second. Jimmy Yu, an analyst at Dell'Oro Group, said that capacity is in line with some other long-distance networking gear on the market.

He said Huawei Technologies Co., Cienna Corp. and ZTE Corp. are the biggest incumbents in the optical equipment market, which he predicts will grow nearly 10% this year to $11.3 billion.

Facebook said the first partner agreeing to build and sell Voyager will be Adva Optical Networking SE, which is based in Germany. Pricing wasn't disclosed.

Jason Forrester, SnapRoute's chief executive, predicted Voyager would cost much less than existing products in the market. "When you unbundle anything, it gets cheaper," he said.

Competition in other networking markets has been aided by the rise of switching chips from companies such as Broadcom Ltd. In optical devices, Acacia has played a similar role. The Maynard, Mass., company, whose components play a role in converting digital signals into light pulses for transmission over glass fibers, completed a successful initial stock offering this year.

Facebook said other partners in developing Voyager include Lumentum Holdings Inc., which makes lasers and other components used in optical equipment.

Nick McKeown, a Stanford University professor and SnapRoute investor who helped promote software-defined networking, called Voyager a logical extension of the concept. "This is one of the first signs of seeing it extend outside the data center," he said.

Write to Don Clark at don.clark@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 01, 2016 16:35 ET (20:35 GMT)

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