A baseboard management controller (BMC

•  For context, a BMC is a specialized controller embedded in servers. It often comes in the form of a system-on-chip (SoC), with its own CPU, memory, and storage and lots of IO. A BMC connects to sensors to read environmental conditions and to fans to control temperature. It also provides other system management functions, including remote power control, serial over LAN, and monitoring and error logging of the server host CPU and memory.

Until now, on the software side, the complete BMC software stack was closed. BMC software is usually developed by the hardware manufacturer during the hardware-development phase. Because the BMC software was closed, whatever was developed for the existing hardware could not be reused for the next generation. The long BMC software schedule directly affected new hardware development. When hardware development ended, the BMC software development stopped as well. Further bug fixes or new features had to wait for the hardware manufacturer.

 

https://engineering.fb.com/2015/03/10/open-source/introducing-openbmc-an-open-software-framework-for-next-generation-system-management/