11–20 of 118 posts
It's really amazing they made their own for so long... hardware is a commodity business.
They're still only buying the assembled hardware from Dell.
If low volume is a problem for manufacturers because you don't need that much, the obvious solution is to increase volume by selling them. Of course that would introduce even more problems to solve, but at least volume wouldn't be one of them.
They already sell them, but personally I thought they were too expensive, probably they were adding a mark-up on their build price when selling them.
It's really amazing they made their own for so long... hardware is a commodity business.
The hardware components of the Backblaze Pod are commodities but the entire finished unit is not a commodity. E.g. the rough equivalent from 45drives is not a commodity: https://www.45drives.com/products/storinator-xl60-configurat...
This one is particularly interesting as they discuss the logistical challenges of their own success in having to build more and more Storage Pods.
As always, a super fascinating read worth your time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or dell forces them to buy their drives but their markup is not as high as their competitors?
The default markup is awful, check the Dell website. I'd describe the process of buying a drive from Dell a bit like getting mugged.
I'm surprised Dell don't make they buy hard drives from them at a substantial mark-up, as they allude to vendors doing earlier in the story.
Or dell forces them to buy their drives but their markup is not as high as their competitors?
It's where they make most of their margin.
And then, most of the time, the drives they sell come on custom sleds that they don't sell separately as a form of DRM/lock in.
Then you get a nice little trade on Chinese-made sleds that sort of work, but not for anything recent like hot swap NVMe drives.
I'm sure BB were able to negotiate down a lot (Dell usually come down 50% off the list price if you press them hard enough for one off projects), but... yeah. That's how it generally goes.
Did the surge in Chia mining affect global hard drive prices at all?
Did the surge in Chia mining affect global hard drive prices at all?
Did the surge in Chia mining affect global hard drive prices at all?
Not yet, but when Chia pools become available the mining will take off and hdd prices will most likely rice
There's a massive amount of premined chia controlled by the "chia strategic reserve".
It will take a decade for the amount of mined value to equal the pre-mined value.