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Nigerians are building affordable alternatives to AWS and Google Cloud

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Re: Nigerians are building affordable alternatives to AWS and Google Cloud

#41

Post by gregw2 »

gregw2 wrote: post #40
kittikitti wrote: post #11

Amazon, which was originally planned to be named "Ruthless", will see this as an existential threat and use the full force of their Big Tech allies to make sure they have no additional competition. I support their cloud services and know that Big Tech collusion on cloud infrastructure will be nearly impossible to avoid. There must be more decentralized solutions and I'm proud of Nigeria for innovating when Silicon Va…

Err. I think you meant Amazon planned to be named "Relentless" (and then Cadabra). Bezos did register "Relentless.com" and it redirects to amazon.com to this day. Other early name alternatives were: Awake.com (still works), Browse.com (still works) and Bookmall.com (doesn't work).

Pro Amazon Insider Tip: If you visit each of the four original URLs four times in a row, and then go to Amazon.com, all items are priced at $0.00!

Just kidding.

Re: Nigerians are building affordable alternatives to AWS and Google Cloud

#42

Post by dukeyukey »

graemep wrote: post #30
unclebucknasty wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Looking at the websites of those companies, I also wouldn't characterize them as AWS or Google Cloud competitors I'd say they're more "alternatives" at this point, as the article's title states. But... > They offer Virtual Private Servers, FTP storage, maybe an S3 equivalent and Kubernetes. The number of AWS customers that could survive on these services alone is likely higher than we'd suspect, especially for smal…

> The number of AWS customers that could survive on these services alone is likely higher than we'd suspect, especially for small companies They could, but they will not.If your AWS is small there is no real motive to look for alternatives. Just stick with the brand you know. Even a lot of developers are very resistant to using something 'non-standard'.I have had "thats a weird thing to do" reactions to suggestions s…

> If your AWS is small there is no real motive to look for alternatives. Just stick with the brand you know.

Lots of reasons. Maybe you want a vastly simpler interface and feature set. Maybe AWS doesn't offer servers in your country, and you've got sensitive data. Maybe the US is threatening your country with economic warfare, and you want to move away from US services.

Re: Nigerians are building affordable alternatives to AWS and Google Cloud

#43

Post by e63f67dd-065b »

> Besides the option to pay in naira, these companies allow Nigerians to store their data within the country — an advantage most of their Western rivals lack. Local servers give businesses the benefits of low latency and data localization at a time when the debate about who has access to a country’s data is heating up

Uhhh... all major cloud providers let you locate data manually? AWS surely has Nigerian datacenters too, that's not an advantage, that's the minimum.

I will grant the argument that random nigerian startups are not subject to foreign government interference, but saying that low latency is a benefit seems incorrect.

Re: Nigerians are building affordable alternatives to AWS and Google Cloud

#45

Post by unclebucknasty »

datadrivenangel wrote: post #13
unclebucknasty wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a reliable modular datacenter construction technique that allows for easy scaling/expansion? Seems that could have a dramatic impact on bringing these within reach.

Racks.

Yeah, I was thinking something a little more balanced than building an AWS-scale datacenter with full infrastructure—capable of accommodating thousands of racks—then starting with ten 42Us.

Re: Nigerians are building affordable alternatives to AWS and Google Cloud

#46

Post by kjs3 »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #29
kjs3 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sun had their 'modular data center' concept[1], which was a self contained DC in a standard shipping container. You could chain them together. It wasn't obscenely expensive relatively speaking as I recall. I'm not sure if Sun was 'first', but these days there are all sorts of companies that do the same thing (I was recently in one from Delta). I don't know if they are applicable to the reality on the ground in Nigeri…

Very interesting. Yes, this is along the lines of what I was thinking. Seems you could calibrate the size of each unit according to anticipated growth and the max a site could sustain, area-wise (i.e. go larger to balance number of containers). Then, prep the site with easily extensible cabling for power/networking between units. It seems (completely intuiting here) that if the reality on the ground could accommodate…

I don't think there was much choice when it came to the size of the unit. It was a shipping container...the size is standardized. So more "install the first one and start filling it. When you get to some percentage of maxing it out, start budgeting for the next one."

the cost was 1% of traditional data centers

That smells an awful lot like an apples-to-oranges marketspeak. Perhaps "1% the cost for 1% the capacity". Ignoring the things you get when you build out a full DC that these don't have, I very much doubt if you bought, say, 300k sq ft of these it would be 1%.

Re: Nigerians are building affordable alternatives to AWS and Google Cloud

#47

Post by kjs3 »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #38
kjs3 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sun had their 'modular data center' concept[1], which was a self contained DC in a standard shipping container. You could chain them together. It wasn't obscenely expensive relatively speaking as I recall. I'm not sure if Sun was 'first', but these days there are all sorts of companies that do the same thing (I was recently in one from Delta). I don't know if they are applicable to the reality on the ground in Nigeri…

Very cool. Huwawai also made a similar thing [1], called the FusionModule1000A All-in-One Container Data Center. But interestingly (as far as I can tell) without any compute, just power, cooling, safety etc. Presumably costs about a million USD [2]. [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20170709195517/https://e.huawei.... [2] https://www.finditprice.com/index/it_product/search.html?pro...

I don't think Sun's base model came with any compute either. It was racks/power/cooling and then you put servers and networking in. Sun would happily sell those to you...just more SKUs on the invoice.

Re: Nigerians are building affordable alternatives to AWS and Google Cloud

#48

Post by gottorf »

e63f67dd-065b wrote: post #43

> Besides the option to pay in naira, these companies allow Nigerians to store their data within the country — an advantage most of their Western rivals lack. Local servers give businesses the benefits of low latency and data localization at a time when the debate about who has access to a country’s data is heating up Uhhh... all major cloud providers let you locate data manually? AWS surely has Nigerian datacenters…

> AWS surely has Nigerian datacenters too

AWS's only African presence is in Cape Town.

Re: Nigerians are building affordable alternatives to AWS and Google Cloud

#49

Post by gottorf »

antithesis-nl wrote: post #9

The premise of the article seems a bit flawed: Nigerians are not replicating hyperscalers, but more like building local Hetzners. And that is a fine idea! A big problem for people doing this, however, is that peering is pretty much nonexistent in Nigeria (and, for that matter, most of Africa). So, traffic from, say, Airtel (where a lot of consumers are) to Globacom (which hosts a lot of major businesses), will not st…

> from Lagos to those destinations, Joburg or Cape Town are actually double the distance

As the crow flies, Lagos is slightly closer to Cape Town than London, though Marseille is indeed closer than virtually any part of South Africa (though not by much).

Re: Nigerians are building affordable alternatives to AWS and Google Cloud

#50

Post by unclebucknasty »

kjs3 wrote: post #46
unclebucknasty wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very interesting. Yes, this is along the lines of what I was thinking. Seems you could calibrate the size of each unit according to anticipated growth and the max a site could sustain, area-wise (i.e. go larger to balance number of containers). Then, prep the site with easily extensible cabling for power/networking between units. It seems (completely intuiting here) that if the reality on the ground could accommodate…

I don't think there was much choice when it came to the size of the unit. It was a shipping container...the size is standardized. So more "install the first one and start filling it. When you get to some percentage of maxing it out, start budgeting for the next one." the cost was 1% of traditional data centers That smells an awful lot like an apples-to-oranges marketspeak. Perhaps "1% the cost for 1% the capacity". I…

>I don't think there was much choice when it came to the size of the unit

Yeah, I got the sense the design was intended for smaller on-demand needs versus strategically building out massive datacenters. So, my thinking is that you would borrow from the base idea, but you'd upsize each unit to cut down on the actual number of units (and attendant overhead). Just considering that if you truly are building out a datacenter, you'd probably do better to have fewer, larger units.

On the flip side though, the shipping container format does make it very appealing logistically.

>That smells an awful lot like an apples-to-oranges marketspeak

Yeah, they are no doubt being selective in what they are comparing. That claim has to do with the cost of "connecting [these units] to existing infrastructure".

So, I'm guessing they are assuming infrastructure, then comparing the cost of one of these units to construction of equivalent DC square footage.

1% still seems aggressive, but I could be convinced it's "significantly less". Of course, assuming the infrastructure starts to get murky, since a full DC build is going to be more intertwined with its infra.

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