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FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

datacenterdynamics.com

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Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#31

Post by oceanswave »

arghwhat wrote: post #24
baud147258 wrote: post #12

Are they really going to save 400 m$, or was it the figure "promised" by the shop that will handle the migration?

It certainly seems unlikely. Maybe it's the current operational cost, not subtracted the new operational cost. Maybe it's due to already adopting cloud and thus having paying double. Maybe it's due to the use of mainframes, rather than conventional servers. Either way, it's definitely not the cost difference between on-premise and cloud. Cloud providers are not charities, and their buildings and staff are not cheaper…

So do you feel FedEx should make their own trucks, ships, and planes?

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#32

Post by cs702 »

Aeolun wrote: post #25

Cue 10 years down the line, when everyone realizes cloud comes with tradeoffs in flexibility and reliability and they all move back to on-premise for business critical stuff.

More like 20+ years -- after a new generation of executives and managers has taken over. Their egos won't be tied up in old debates and they will be more willing to sacrifice old decisions.

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#34

Post by frereubu »

oceanswave wrote: post #31
arghwhat wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It certainly seems unlikely. Maybe it's the current operational cost, not subtracted the new operational cost. Maybe it's due to already adopting cloud and thus having paying double. Maybe it's due to the use of mainframes, rather than conventional servers. Either way, it's definitely not the cost difference between on-premise and cloud. Cloud providers are not charities, and their buildings and staff are not cheaper…

So do you feel FedEx should make their own trucks, ships, and planes?

I think that's a false equivalence. That's more like FedEx buying their own server hardware.

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#36

Post by cs702 »

kragen wrote: post #19

Ultimately companies that abdicate their informatics operations like this will give their profits to their data-center operators, who will be empowered to charge them whatever price they want. Because what's their BATNA? Migrating from Azure to AWS when Microsoft doesn't want to let them? Renting your information infrastructure is a great way to reduce startup costs, but down the road, that information infrastructure…

Without a doubt, a future generation of executives will revisit and reverse the decision to rent all information infrastructure, but that will likely be many, many years down the road. In the meantime, the current generation of executives who made this decision will look very smart for saving the company lots of money for a good number of years. And they stand to benefit personally from it. They're doing the rational thing!

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#37

Post by afavour »

baud147258 wrote: post #12

Are they really going to save 400 m$, or was it the figure "promised" by the shop that will handle the migration?

Either that or it’s an accurate figure for the first year or so while the cloud provider gives a ton of credits. By the time that all runs out the senior exec behind the migration will have moved on and someone else can do the maths.

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#38

Post by [deleted] »

Thorentis wrote: post #4

Is there any gain here aside from cost saving? Will this saving be passed on to the customer? ( laughs ). What happens when the inevitable AWS outage then causes a global shipping bottleneck? Have we still not learnt that having sovereignty is better than saving money? Has COVID taught us nothing? sigh

[deleted]

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#39

Post by kurupt213 »

baud147258 wrote: post #12

Are they really going to save 400 m$, or was it the figure "promised" by the shop that will handle the migration?

$400M sounds huge, but why do I think it’s trivial next to FedEx’s operating budget? A couple years ago they were making 18 Billion* a quarter.

* edited from million (meant to type billion)

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#40

Post by ajsnigrutin »

Ekaros wrote: post #30

Where are they using all of these data centers and mainframes? That is they are spending at least 400 million to do what exactly? To me that seems like rather high figure in any case for their sites and logistics...

Yep... A couple of million of packages daily + tracking a fleet of vehicles, client facing site, apis for their tracking and courrier services/devices plus some internal services (billing etc...).. this seems like it would fit on a few racks, not nearly 400million, or whatever the full number is (since 400m are just the savings).

But yeah... old company, they might still have stuff written in cobol virtualized somewhere.

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