Why Dropbox decided to build its own infrastructure and network • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Dropbox decided to build its own infrastructure and network

#101

Post by tw04 » Sat, Sep 16, 2017, 7:38 AM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #48

qaq wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and that someone can be their own subsidiary in a jurisdiction with dif. tax treatment

Can be within the same taxing authority. I've facilitated facility transfers and leaseback agreements in the US. Edit: Yes, you can't seize what isn't owned.

You also can't silently seize what is owned. Which is, generally speaking, the bigger issue.

Re: Why Dropbox decided to build its own infrastructure and network

#102

Post by bsenftner » Sat, Sep 16, 2017, 8:08 AM UTC

swampthinker wrote: post #2

I'll be 100% honest, I didn't realize Dropbox was still on AWS. You figure at a certain scale it makes more sense to run your own solution.

Please, how fucking stupid. Of course they moved as much as possible off AWS, and only use AWS for new and experimental services. The markup of cloud servers is immoral, and the brainwashing that cloud services are a value at all is a testimony to how many people simply do not do the math.

Re: Why Dropbox decided to build its own infrastructure and network

#103

Post by bsenftner » Sat, Sep 16, 2017, 8:17 AM UTC

antoncohen wrote: post #32

Dropbox hasn't dropped AWS, they moved things off AWS as it made sense to. The article is talking about two things, the move of file storage and a network backbone. Neither of which were done recently. The file storage move from S3 to Magic Pocket is detailed in these blog posts: https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2016/03/magic-pocket-infrastr... https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2016/05/inside-the-magic-pock... https://blo…

The 'value' cloud services provide is purely for experimental services an organization does not want to commit physical assets. Those deluded to believing cloud services provide any value beyond test service deployments are propaganda poster boys for today's tech sucker awards.

Re: Why Dropbox decided to build its own infrastructure and network

#104

Post by dingo_bat » Sat, Sep 16, 2017, 8:25 AM UTC

amorphid wrote: post #93

xbmcuser wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah and that's why it amazes me that Netflix uses Amazon a straight competitor that uses the money it makes from Netflix to compete with Amazon prime.

What's the largest cloud provider that does NOT offer a Netflix-like streaming video service? Amazon/AWS, Microsoft/Azure, and Google Cloud all have offer premium streaming content of some type. IBM Cloud?

Microsoft has a Netflix-like service?

Re: Why Dropbox decided to build its own infrastructure and network

#105

Post by elmar » Sat, Sep 16, 2017, 8:28 AM UTC

antoncohen wrote: post #32

Dropbox hasn't dropped AWS, they moved things off AWS as it made sense to. The article is talking about two things, the move of file storage and a network backbone. Neither of which were done recently. The file storage move from S3 to Magic Pocket is detailed in these blog posts: https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2016/03/magic-pocket-infrastr... https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2016/05/inside-the-magic-pock... https://blo…

The epic story of dropbox exodus from the amazon cloud empire

https://www.wired.com/2016/03/epic-story-dropboxs-exodus-ama...

Re: Why Dropbox decided to build its own infrastructure and network

#106

Post by StreamBright » Sat, Sep 16, 2017, 8:29 AM UTC

bsenftner wrote: post #102

swampthinker wrote: post #2

I'll be 100% honest, I didn't realize Dropbox was still on AWS. You figure at a certain scale it makes more sense to run your own solution.

Please, how fucking stupid. Of course they moved as much as possible off AWS, and only use AWS for new and experimental services. The markup of cloud servers is immoral, and the brainwashing that cloud services are a value at all is a testimony to how many people simply do not do the math.

I am not sure what you are talking about. They moved out the 500PB data storage because ______at that scale______ it is cheaper to run it on your own hardware. This implies few things like having engineers with skills that are really not easy to find for starting and a bunch of other challenges that you need to solve.

Re: Why Dropbox decided to build its own infrastructure and network

#107

Post by StreamBright » Sat, Sep 16, 2017, 8:30 AM UTC

xbmcuser wrote: post #33

swampthinker wrote: post #2

I'll be 100% honest, I didn't realize Dropbox was still on AWS. You figure at a certain scale it makes more sense to run your own solution.

Yeah and that's why it amazes me that Netflix uses Amazon a straight competitor that uses the money it makes from Netflix to compete with Amazon prime.

Netflix probably in a better position to do the math than random people on HN. I think they have done their homework and decided that it is overall cheaper to keep ___some___ of their infra on AWS.

Re: Why Dropbox decided to build its own infrastructure and network

#108

Post by snovv_crash » Sat, Sep 16, 2017, 8:32 AM UTC

bsenftner wrote: post #103

antoncohen wrote: post #32

Dropbox hasn't dropped AWS, they moved things off AWS as it made sense to. The article is talking about two things, the move of file storage and a network backbone. Neither of which were done recently. The file storage move from S3 to Magic Pocket is detailed in these blog posts: https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2016/03/magic-pocket-infrastr... https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2016/05/inside-the-magic-pock... https://blo…

The 'value' cloud services provide is purely for experimental services an organization does not want to commit physical assets. Those deluded to believing cloud services provide any value beyond test service deployments are propaganda poster boys for today's tech sucker awards.

While I mostly agree with you, there is some benefit to economies of scale and time to deployment.

Re: Why Dropbox decided to build its own infrastructure and network

#109

Post by StreamBright » Sat, Sep 16, 2017, 8:35 AM UTC

GuiA wrote: post #22

mr_tristan wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article sounds like a PR puff piece. If you downvote me, please explain why this blog article actually means anything to you.

I am the CEO of a 3 person startup, and this piece has made me realize how critical it is to own your infrastructure if you truly want to disrupt and dominate the industry. I am making our engineers build our own data center at once, and am now hiring for Lead Data Center Engineers (15+ years AWS experience required). :)

A good one. People should realize that building your own DC is an art itself and very few companies can do it at the quality bar as AWS. HN does not take jokes btw. :)

Re: Why Dropbox decided to build its own infrastructure and network

#110

Post by peanutgallery27 » Sat, Sep 16, 2017, 8:49 AM UTC

bsenftner wrote: post #103

antoncohen wrote: post #32

Dropbox hasn't dropped AWS, they moved things off AWS as it made sense to. The article is talking about two things, the move of file storage and a network backbone. Neither of which were done recently. The file storage move from S3 to Magic Pocket is detailed in these blog posts: https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2016/03/magic-pocket-infrastr... https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2016/05/inside-the-magic-pock... https://blo…

The 'value' cloud services provide is purely for experimental services an organization does not want to commit physical assets. Those deluded to believing cloud services provide any value beyond test service deployments are propaganda poster boys for today's tech sucker awards.

That's incredibly misguided. Tell us more about how Netflix is a "sucker" for relying on AWS. Do you really think every company wants or needs to employ people to operate their own hardware?