Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Cloud Computer

oxide.computer

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 994 posts

Re: The Cloud Computer

#291

Post by NKosmatos »

FridgeSeal wrote: post #195
rob74 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but... what is a "Cloud Computer"? Is it a "computer in the cloud", like e.g. an AWS EC2 instance? Or is it a fancy name for a good old fashioned server rack (on which you will probably want to run your own cloud, because everybody's doing that nowadays, hence the name), like in this case? And if it's a server rack, how come you don't need any cables? And what do you do with this "cloud computer"? Do they host i…

> like e.g. an AWS EC2 instance? Or is it a fancy name for a good old fashioned server rack I mean, the former is just the latter with some of the setup done for you no? Anyways, it’s a full server rack, with tightly vertically integrated hardware and software. Not sure if you’ve poked around the rest of their site, but it seems like their whole software stack is designed with some really nice usability and integrati…

That's what some of us are saying, it's not crystal clear what they sell.

You use words like: it seems, I think, presumably, I believe... This is what we're arguing. A company that has raised $44 million Series A for sure can afford to clearly write what they offer.

I understand, you can't have all the people happy and no matter what you do there will always be "weirdos" that don't like your page/design/wording, but hey at least recognize it :-)

Re: The Cloud Computer

#292

Post by tock »

wuliwong wrote: post #235
tock wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just crab mentality unfortunately.

Hmmm...I actually had to look up what crab mentality meant but I don't see how it applies here. From my quick lookup, crab mentality apparently refers to a reactionary state of mind where a person wants to sabotage another's success even when it doesn't directly impact their own. In the case of everyone making the same salary, you could certainly still sabotage someone's success but I don't see how having the same sa…

Ah I think you misunderstand. I think employees in the west being pissed that someone in a third world country makes the same salary as them is crab mentality.

I totally understand why companies want to pay less though. It's massive cost savings and it makes sense for them to hire for less money.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#293

Post by nunez »

cpursley wrote: post #3

Can somebody explain in a sentence or two what this actually is and what the benefits are?

The Oxide has everything you need to stand up your own private cloud, and everything works together down to the software. It's a great alternative to buying and managing servers, switches, storage, power management, KVMs, all of the software in between, and the tens of professional services contracts required to glue it all together.

It's the iPhone of hyperconverged infrastructure.

(Sorry; three sentences.)

Re: The Cloud Computer

#294

Post by nwsm »

mstade wrote: post #284

It bugs me more than it should that they flirt with hexadecimal numbers in their branding with the whole 0x thing, but the logo is 0xide when clearly it ought to be 0x1de. Designer came up with a clever idea but didn't understand hexadecimal, and no one had the heart to tell them? :o) I'm kidding, mostly. The engineer in me is bothered by it, but the part of my brain that cares more about design and branding understa…

0x1de would be great branding for some kind of integrated hex editor (hence IDE)

Re: The Cloud Computer

#295

Post by liotier »

bigironcto wrote: post #258
apendleton wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they're mostly targeting customers who want an AWS- or GCP-like experience from a developer perspective (compute is abstracted and you can provision it with an API, etc.), but want to own their own compute infrastructure and have it on-prem. That market has mostly had to cobble together consumer-inspired HP/Cisco/whatever stuff historically (like, one of the early talks about the Oxide value proposition was c…

Thank you for the response. The problem you described has been solved by the large vendors with Hyper-converged offerings for many years so it sounds like Oxide might be a bit late to the party. I do understand well the rational of running your own servers vs hyperscalers, as well as the repatriation trend but I see Oxide at best as a niche player.

Lack of local support does make them a niche player, but everything starts from a niche and those who believe they don't start from a niche disperse their efforts. So, with the hypothesis that Oxyde is smart, the question therefore is: what niche is Oxyde focusing on ?

Re: The Cloud Computer

#296

Post by brucepink »

mstade wrote: post #284

It bugs me more than it should that they flirt with hexadecimal numbers in their branding with the whole 0x thing, but the logo is 0xide when clearly it ought to be 0x1de. Designer came up with a clever idea but didn't understand hexadecimal, and no one had the heart to tell them? :o) I'm kidding, mostly. The engineer in me is bothered by it, but the part of my brain that cares more about design and branding understa…

You'll like https://admin.pci-ids.ucw.cz/read/PC/01de then.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#297

Post by layer8 »

paxys wrote: post #230
lopkeny12ko wrote: post #227

> We’re really excited to have the first commercial cloud computer — and for it to be generally available! If you yourself are interested, we look forward to it making its first impression on you — reach out to us! Can we please stop with the "the only way to get our pricing is by booking a sales call with us." This is a 100% surefire way for me to never pay for your product, and instead go to competitors who provide…

Their pricing starts at $500K (but realistically will be $1-2M per order at a minimum). This is not intended for people who browse their website, click "buy" and fill in their credit card info. If you don't want to talk to a sales rep you were never their target customer, and I'm sure they aren't sweating the hypothetical lost sale.

I wonder how much the premium is over traditional server hardware with the same capabilities. You save some integration work and need less know-how, but it’d be interesting to compare.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#298

Post by chubot »

bigironcto wrote: post #241

I am CTO of a large global data center provider posting with throwaway account. As a technologist, I really appreciate what they have done. Impressive work, high quality, however I don't understand who this is for. The meaningful market for Data Center hardware is pretty well defined in two clusters. People that build/make custom gear (such as Hyperscalers) and people that buys HP/Cisco/IBM/Dell... (blades or hyper-c…

You’re writing like the status quo is a law of nature. At best it’s been that way for a decade or two

How many times has computing hardware changed in response to the economics of the parts and the economics of the businesses buying hardware?

There are downsides to new models, but money solves a lot of problems

So I don’t know about Oxide in particular, but it seems short sighted to bet on stagnation

Also Oxide is doing what Google did 20 years ago, and Facebook open sourced ~10 years ago, so it’s not exactly unproven

Re: The Cloud Computer

#299

Post by layer8 »

rwmj wrote: post #290
paxys wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their pricing starts at $500K (but realistically will be $1-2M per order at a minimum). This is not intended for people who browse their website, click "buy" and fill in their credit card info. If you don't want to talk to a sales rep you were never their target customer, and I'm sure they aren't sweating the hypothetical lost sale.

I still don't get why they can't put a price on the website.

It gives them more flexibility and reduces competition. It’s quite common in B2B, for products/services in that pricing range.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#300

Post by electroly »

EvanAnderson wrote: post #39
siscia wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am missing how AWS/GCP/Azure does not solve this for you. Price point?

On prem. Reliable and inexpensive network connectivity they has any resemblance to a 10G LAN doesn't exist where I am. I work with some businesses who need very, very reliable, high-bandwidth, and low latency connectivity to their data. The amortized cost of on-prem beats the cost of any off-prem offering as soon as the cost of the necessary connectivity is factoted-in.

AWS Outposts is the solution. I like Oxide but people seem to be blind to the actual competition when they focus on Dell as the competitor. AWS has been shipping Outposts racks for years. All prices are public on their website and you can order it today. Nearly every configuration is sub-$500k. Fully managed and AWS supports the entire stack; no buck-passing among vendors, same as Oxide.
Post reply on HN