Open source storage hardware, low cost, high return

Backblaze, a cloud storage startup, pioneered the concept of open source storage hardware. After the concept was put forward, it showed how to put 135 terabytes of data into a 4U rack (Backblaze called pod) for less than $ 8,000, and the results are getting more and more popular . Today, Backblaze introduced the third generation of Storage Pod technology on Wednesday. In contrast, however, hundreds of companies are making money by building and selling these designs.

However, one question is who is using Backblaze's technical parameters to build a storage system? Netflix is ​​probably the most famous one (using Storage Pod as part of the CDN infrastructure) and others include Vanderbilt University, Crispin Porter + Bogusky Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the well-known online printing company Shutterfly, which also uses BackBlaze's Storage Pod architecture.

Due to different organizations, the specific use of a variety of ways. For example, there are CDN services like Netflix and consumer-facing cloud storage such as Shutterstock. Many people use the Pod as a huge network-attached storage device that everyone can access. "The data here is bigger than the data for any conceivable company," said Gleb Budman (left), founder and CEO of Backblaze (left), told GigaOM correspondent Derrick Harris "they use a redundant array of independent disks."

Backblaze disrupts the storage industry!

Backblaze's design is so surprising that Budman said storage vendors are constantly trying to protect their profits by providing enterprise-level functionality with a "write once, rarely read" system, but these tend to be unnecessary.

So, in the world of mass storage, we have entered a PC market similar to a decade ago, and if you want to be cheaper, users need to buy the parts themselves for assembly instead of buying directly from the already assembled brand machines. "DELL has killed those self-developed computers because they have really and really focused on optimizing costs," explains Budman. "No single vendor is going to do that for storage," and storage vendors say "we Sell ​​a $ 1 million design, why we want to change it?

Backblaze's data center is full of Storage Pod

Thanks to Backblaze's efforts, the situation is changing. The steady demand for parts is a guide to Protocase, a Canadian sheet metal manufacturer that has created a whole-of-business business that only makes Backblaze Pod housings - well-known as 45 Drives - around the sale of pod parts or already Fully pre-installed pods, which have tried to do business outside of Canada, Protocase has now sold Backblaze components to China, Russia and Brazil.

What's interesting is that you will not see Backblaze's design appearing on other well-known open source hardware achievements - like Facebook's open source computing project. Budman said he also had conversations with leaders at some organizations (those trying to invite Backblaze to participate), but more about the open-source computing systems that they want to help them with. He said he likes to do some theoretical research, there will be a lot of small companies such as Backblaze spend a lot of time to promote.