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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

#501

Post by stonogo »

ranman wrote: post #411
stonogo wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a phone call to big blue is not automated. Cloud autoscaling is. Respectfully, the hell you say. Cloud 'autoscaling' is something that has to be tenderly maintained by software engineers, who expect to be paid salaries and benefits and so on. It's not like FedEx can just rsync their data into the cloud and have all their software run forever. Instead, they need the engineering team that manages their existing data…

Why would one have to hire a whole new cadre of technical talent? Wouldn't it just be taking existing talent and/or ops teams and having them work with the autoscaling APIs as opposed to working with the data center teams. If the skillsets don't match then you can either train existing talent or, yes, hire new folks. I agree the occasional phone call removed from your workflow isn't reason enough to justify a giant c…

I'll acknowledge that "have to" is maybe an exaggeration, but it's definitely going to be cheaper to hire new talent than reskill existing engineers (who may not even be interested in reskilling), and profit margins generally dictate the cheapest path forward in an ultracompetitive industry like logistics. And on top of all those issues, the existing workflows must be maintained while the cloud-adapted ones come online, and in a complex enough enterprise environment we're talking about a project that can take years to execute.

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#502

Post by ClumsyPilot »

majewsky wrote: post #463
infogulch wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this a quine where the processor is a CEO?

I think it's more like malware. A virus that spreads from CEO to CEO.

CEO is the virus that spreads from one organisation to another

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#503

Post by ClumsyPilot »

kortilla wrote: post #428
stainforth wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but they ultimately live materially better lives because of their position, so you can't hand wave away criticism of the value or lack thereof their actions take, especially when those actions can have a negative effect on those below them and even to the external environment.

> they ultimately live materially better lives because of their position This is a bullshit reason based on jealousy, not reason. > when those actions can have a negative effect on those below them and even to the external environment This is the real reason it’s fair to be very critical of their maneuvers.

> This is a bullshit reason based on jealousy, not reason.

If this is trully BS, then allow lead developers to write checks for their whole team using the company's bank account.

they hold power in organisation, they can increase their own renumeration in a way that's rank and file staff cannot. Executive compensation has skyrocketed in the past 20 years.

If their management is ineffective, then they don't deserve top comopensation.

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#504

Post by dehrmann »

lupire wrote: post #338
dehrmann wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's interesting is people seem really excited about installing rooftop solar, but I see fewer companies building collectors in places with cheap land and ample sun. That tells me part of the selling point of rooftop solar is it feels good, and the economics might not actually work.

Captured Solar (electricity in general) doesn't travel well over long distances. Generating solar for local use saves the cost of transport.

> electricity in general doesn't travel well over long distances.

High-voltage line losses can be as low as 3% per 1,000 km. That should be easily offset by the better location and better angle/tracking.

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#505

Post by dehrmann »

bsder wrote: post #468
dehrmann wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's interesting is people seem really excited about installing rooftop solar, but I see fewer companies building collectors in places with cheap land and ample sun. That tells me part of the selling point of rooftop solar is it feels good, and the economics might not actually work.

The economics favors distributed storage rather than generation. I worked in a building during rolling blackouts in California. The Tesla Powerwall on the building was "screaming" (ultrasonic harmonics from piezo components) 24/7. The security guy actually came to get me to ask if the thing was going to explode. Clearly, the building owner was load shifting and making quite a bit of money from it.

> The economics favors distributed storage rather than generation.

They shouldn't, though. If powerwalls are that great, it should be more cost effective to install giant banks of them in cheap warehouses outside major metros since you'll have economies of scale on installation and maintenance. Utilities are sorta getting into this game, but it's more common at the individual level, despite being more expensive.

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#506

Post by intrasight »

hinkley wrote: post #352
intrasight wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most financial analysis are companies are short-term. But labor costs keep going up and cloud computing costs keep going down. So I don't see how this is short-termism.

> cloud computing costs keep going down. For now. I also have to keep reminding my coworkers that AWS gives us faster cores every few years but so far they always have the exact same amount of memory. So caching things (especially in process, but also on loop back) to save computation isn’t really a winning long term strategy. It’s never going to get better than what it does for you in the beginning. It will only dec…

They want you to use other services for caching, right?

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#507

Post by smugma »

bluGill wrote: post #137
TheRealDunkirk wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 53, and I've worked for 3 Fortune 250's. Can confirm. I've seen this happen over and over again. Senior management makes some broad pronouncements, and the mid-level lieutenants have meetings with consultants, and then implement new, expensive projects that "will surely fix 'it' this time." Five to ten years later, after the dust settles, and we figure out that we've strapped YET ANOTHER LAYER of technical debt o…

8-10 years is as long as senior executives last, if they don't make a big change then thee is no way to take credit for their vision. Even if the company had a "perfect" org chart (as if such a thing is possible), they need to make changes otherwise someone will say that they old org chart is the cause of success and they as a leader were not worth anything. I don't know if the above fear would actually play out, nob…

counter-examples: all of FANG/MAGA, even when you exclude founders

Satya: 1992, CEO in in 2014 Tim: 1998, CEO in ~2009 Sundar: 2004, CEO in 2015 Andy: 1997, CEO in 2021 Ted: 2000, CEO in 2020

They were all senior executives well before assuming their CEO roles.

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#508

Post by ClumsyPilot »

mbesto wrote: post #496
nix23 wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you buy servers with metal flakes in it? No quality controll on your side?

Wait, are you saying that an org needs expertise to QC all of the the hardware they procure? How expensive is that? How easy it is to hire that type of QC? Do you see how these costs all start to add up?

Well, are you saying that an org needs expertise to inspect faulty cars, like, by calling a mechanic?

Is that like too much these days for companies that owb fleets of cars? is opening a server harder than checking whars wrong with a car? like a cable comes loose and that's gane over?

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#509

Post by fomine3 »

throw0101a wrote: post #108
jon-wood wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The immediate gains I can see are: * In-house development teams have more agility in standing up new services, since they can just use EC2/ECS/one of the other 1500 container runtimes AWS has, rather than having to wait for someone to provision new physical servers for them. * An extensive suite of complementary products are available from cloud providers, it's not just about being able to start a VM, in many cases y…

> In-house development teams have more agility in standing up new services, since they can just use EC2/ECS/one of the other 1500 container runtimes AWS has, rather than having to wait for someone to provision new physical servers for them. How many people run physical servers 'raw' anymore? I would hazard their current stack involves VMware, Hyper-V, Open Stack, or a combination of the three. You can have an API sys…

It's fortunate if "private cloud" is actually like a cloud.

Re: FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes

#510

Post by mpyne »

Someone1234 wrote: post #153
TheRealDunkirk wrote: post #136

I've seen two mainframe "replacements" fail to either retire the mainframe, OR produce an alternative system which people like. Has any Fortune 500 company successfully "retired" their mainframe?

I've seen it. It was essentially four steps: - Build middleware (REST API endpoint) in front of the mainframe that was 1:1 mainframe functions. It initially does nothing except auth and routing. - Re-write/migrate all other software from using the mainframe directly to using the new middleware. - Work to further restrict anything directly connecting to the mainframe aside from the middleware, including staff's termin…

Off topic but I can't tell you how reassuring this is. This approach was essentially what we had come up with as a proposal for a Navy HR migration away from mainframes, though we never even got close to being able to actually attempt it. But at least it sounds like it could have worked had we tried it.
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