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Snap commits $2B over 5 years for Google Cloud infrastructure

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Re: Snap commits $2B over 5 years for Google Cloud infrastructure

#181
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. If anyone wants to bet against them existing, I'll take the bet.

They'll exist, doesn't mean they'll be relevant, or profitable. If I were asked to bet against the stock, I probably would. Everything about their valuation and IPO smells to high heavens.

Fortunately for you, you can take that bet!

As soon as Snap goes public, you can short the stock. Go for it!

Re: Snap commits $2B over 5 years for Google Cloud infrastructure

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the comparison to Google's investments a good benchmark? Sometimes it's better to make something custom than to buy from a big corporation doing a more general thing at 100x your scale.

Sometimes. But look at Netflix. $8.8 billion revenue in 2016 and a good third of Internet traffic and nearly every single server they have is in AWS. They had their own custom data centers and made the choice to migrate to somebody else's infrastructure. I'm pretty sure they're doing just fine with that decision.

They don't use aws for cdn (i think level3 and many others) + they design custom server-cache which they put inside isps.

Re: Snap commits $2B over 5 years for Google Cloud infrastructure

#183
post #99

Needing this amount of resources implies that Snap is expecting huge growth. This sounds like a really bad move on their part and they should have committed to building out their own infrastructure on 'bare metal' over the next 5 years instead. If you read their S-1, they list a dependence on Google cloud as one of their big risk factors. Yet they then go ahead and make this commitment instead of working towards elim…

I love Hacker News, where a random person can tell a company their $2 billion plan on infrastructure is "a really bad move" with authority

This made me smile. During a very trying time. Can you please make similarly awesome comments/observations on political forums?

Re: Snap commits $2B over 5 years for Google Cloud infrastructure

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming that large companies can't be wrong is the reason why we have Enron and Bear Stearns

Completely wrong way to think about it. In fact, those companies are cases of fraud and lying , and we generally do not assume companies lie. When Google releases their quarterly earnings, we assume the numbers are correct, unless there is evidence to believe it's fraudulent.

Bear Stearns didn't fail due to fraud, it failed due to not adequately tracking and assessing the risk of its assets. It is worth noting that there have been serious allegations made a few weeks ago against Snap that they are lying on the S-1.

Re: Snap commits $2B over 5 years for Google Cloud infrastructure

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the comparison to Google's investments a good benchmark? Sometimes it's better to make something custom than to buy from a big corporation doing a more general thing at 100x your scale.

Sometimes. But look at Netflix. $8.8 billion revenue in 2016 and a good third of Internet traffic and nearly every single server they have is in AWS. They had their own custom data centers and made the choice to migrate to somebody else's infrastructure. I'm pretty sure they're doing just fine with that decision.

[deleted]

Re: Snap commits $2B over 5 years for Google Cloud infrastructure

#186
post #99

Needing this amount of resources implies that Snap is expecting huge growth. This sounds like a really bad move on their part and they should have committed to building out their own infrastructure on 'bare metal' over the next 5 years instead. If you read their S-1, they list a dependence on Google cloud as one of their big risk factors. Yet they then go ahead and make this commitment instead of working towards elim…

I love Hacker News, where a random person can tell a company their $2 billion plan on infrastructure is "a really bad move" with authority

Difference is that a comment that simply states "bad move" is voted down in short order. This comment makes a cogent point about scales and infrastructure. This might be valuable. I love Hacker News too, just without the snark.

Re: Snap commits $2B over 5 years for Google Cloud infrastructure

#187
post #99

Needing this amount of resources implies that Snap is expecting huge growth. This sounds like a really bad move on their part and they should have committed to building out their own infrastructure on 'bare metal' over the next 5 years instead. If you read their S-1, they list a dependence on Google cloud as one of their big risk factors. Yet they then go ahead and make this commitment instead of working towards elim…

I love Hacker News, where a random person can tell a company their $2 billion plan on infrastructure is "a really bad move" with authority

On HN nobody knows if you're a dog, or if you run infrastructure at Facebook...

Re: Snap commits $2B over 5 years for Google Cloud infrastructure

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the comparison to Google's investments a good benchmark? Sometimes it's better to make something custom than to buy from a big corporation doing a more general thing at 100x your scale.

Sometimes. But look at Netflix. $8.8 billion revenue in 2016 and a good third of Internet traffic and nearly every single server they have is in AWS. They had their own custom data centers and made the choice to migrate to somebody else's infrastructure. I'm pretty sure they're doing just fine with that decision.

That's a really good example. They talk a lot about AWS, and nearly every service they run is in AWS. If you don't pay close attention, you might think they're all-AWS. I expect that Netflix' AWS pricing reflects that perception.

The exception is serving films. If you watch a film, you receive bytes served by hardware built to Netflix' specification, running in leased space at a mixture of colos and ISPs. That's a really big exception. The third of internet traffic is that exception.

Re: Snap commits $2B over 5 years for Google Cloud infrastructure

#189

Needing this amount of resources implies that Snap is expecting huge growth. This sounds like a really bad move on their part and they should have committed to building out their own infrastructure on 'bare metal' over the next 5 years instead. If you read their S-1, they list a dependence on Google cloud as one of their big risk factors. Yet they then go ahead and make this commitment instead of working towards elim…

It might be a sort of signaling that google is a potential buyer.

They're filing for IPO, I think that ship has sailed
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