Government Builds Free Cloud-Based Backup for an Ungrateful Nation • Hacker News Board

Re: Government Builds Free Cloud-Based Backup for an Ungrateful Nation

#21

Post by lifeisstillgood » Tue, Jul 09, 2013, 4:18 PM UTC

criley2 wrote: post #17

ck2 wrote: post #8

I've been wondering why hard drive prices haven't gone down to pre-flood prices. Apparently the NSA has been buying every platter available via unlimited taxpayer dollars. Sounds like a joke but think about it...

When I look at the multi-billion dollar NSA datacenter in Utah... I can't help but realize that the annual IT budget at Google or one of the big financial companies dwarfs that number, and does so every year.

Sorry, bit confused - are you saying that NSA is spending more than Google / CitiBank or the other way round?

Re: Government Builds Free Cloud-Based Backup for an Ungrateful Nation

#22

Post by cemerick » Tue, Jul 09, 2013, 4:55 PM UTC

methehack wrote: post #19

cemerick wrote: post #2

Medium, a better place to read things…that show up in the bathroom stalls at the Onion? And, on the HN frontpage, apparently.

Awe, dude... I thought it was funny.

Somewhat amusing, maybe. Front page amusing? 74 points amusing? Goodness no, not when e.g. http://this-plt-life.tumblr.com has only ever gotten 4.

Re: Government Builds Free Cloud-Based Backup for an Ungrateful Nation

#23

Post by criley2 » Tue, Jul 09, 2013, 5:59 PM UTC

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #21

criley2 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I look at the multi-billion dollar NSA datacenter in Utah... I can't help but realize that the annual IT budget at Google or one of the big financial companies dwarfs that number, and does so every year.

Sorry, bit confused - are you saying that NSA is spending more than Google / CitiBank or the other way round?

Sorry, my point is that Google and Goldman Sachs et al spend several times the NSA's big multi-year project every single year.

As in, that datacenter ran the NSA ~$2 billion to build, but those companies are spending several times that every year on IT alone.

I'm reminded of the SEC whose yearly budget is several times smaller than even a single large banks IT budget.

I guess the NSA could have as astronomical black budget and is creating such an enormous amount of hidden demand that the market is that effected... but where's the datacenters holding that market-shifting amount of harddrives?

Even the one being built isn't as impressive as some of the Google/Facebook datacenters popping up, so it seems ridiculous to me that the US Gov is affecting HDD prices when Google/Facebook/Banks et al are not.

Re: Government Builds Free Cloud-Based Backup for an Ungrateful Nation

#24

Post by lifeisstillgood » Wed, Jul 10, 2013, 8:37 AM UTC

criley2 wrote: post #23

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, bit confused - are you saying that NSA is spending more than Google / CitiBank or the other way round?

Sorry, my point is that Google and Goldman Sachs et al spend several times the NSA's big multi-year project every single year. As in, that datacenter ran the NSA ~$2 billion to build, but those companies are spending several times that every year on IT alone. I'm reminded of the SEC whose yearly budget is several times smaller than even a single large banks IT budget. I guess the NSA could have as astronomical black…

Good point - thank you. I suspect you are right in orders of magnitude - we will not really know the exact figures, but I suspect that Intel suddenly building a new plant to cope with demand that no-one can explain would get noticed by the financial analysts (well, the good ones anyway)