Cost of data storage: “zero-sum game”
Last week, our colleagues from Backblaze shared the results of their own investigation into the problem of a stable reduction in the cost of data storage. We decided to push off from their notes and discuss the situation here on Habré.
/ Flickr / William Hook / CC
In an antagonistic game, there are two players whose winnings are opposite. The situation with the pursuit of reducing the cost of hard drives is very similar to such a game.
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Backblaze’s own data, which has acquired more than 75,000 disks, speaks of an interesting phenomenon that can be seen on a volume of 4 TB. The fact is that the increase in disk capacity has ceased to mean a reduction in cost per gigabyte. In the comparison for models for 2 and 8 TB, the cost of storing one gigabyte was almost the same (a difference of $ 0.005).
The curve reflecting the decrease in the cost of one gigabyte for different models of hard drives gradually stabilizes. If from 2009 to 2011 we could observe a drop of 45% (from 0.11 to 0.05 dollars), then in 2015-2017 there was a decrease in the cost of only a cent (to $ 0.028). For the average person, such a spread does not have any significance, but for a IaaS provider, one cent can “result” in a few hundred thousand dollars in savings, which is already noticeable .
Experts such as Matthew Komorowski note not only the slowdown in the reduction of the cost of storing a gigabyte of data, but also other criteria affecting also the pricing policy of manufacturers. It is speed, reliability and availability. They are now coming to the fore. The reason is the growing popularity of streaming services and cloud storage.
It is worth noting such areas as IoT and Big Data. The first has already started to be regulated at the level of the specialized Association of Internet Objects of Things ; the second is just planning to find an approach.
This is not news for analysts, who in 2011 included smart sensors and medgadgets among the auxiliary drivers who would pull the data storage industry. (It is clear that 90% of the projected amount of data that will need to be stored at the time of 2020 was taken to the mail and video.)
In addition to changing the vector of values (from the struggle for accessibility to the belief in reliability and security), we will observe the gradual introduction of new data storage technologies. Of course, they will be going through similar stages of development, but each at their own pace.
Solutions like helium hard drives and SMR technologies can serve as good “bridges” on the way to DNA-based storage systems. The question is how this process will develop in terms of pricing for “transitional” solutions.
PS Related topics that we discuss in our blog:
PPS And a short survey on the trail of our brief news note:
/ Flickr / William Hook / CCIn an antagonistic game, there are two players whose winnings are opposite. The situation with the pursuit of reducing the cost of hard drives is very similar to such a game.
')
Backblaze’s own data, which has acquired more than 75,000 disks, speaks of an interesting phenomenon that can be seen on a volume of 4 TB. The fact is that the increase in disk capacity has ceased to mean a reduction in cost per gigabyte. In the comparison for models for 2 and 8 TB, the cost of storing one gigabyte was almost the same (a difference of $ 0.005).
The curve reflecting the decrease in the cost of one gigabyte for different models of hard drives gradually stabilizes. If from 2009 to 2011 we could observe a drop of 45% (from 0.11 to 0.05 dollars), then in 2015-2017 there was a decrease in the cost of only a cent (to $ 0.028). For the average person, such a spread does not have any significance, but for a IaaS provider, one cent can “result” in a few hundred thousand dollars in savings, which is already noticeable .
Experts such as Matthew Komorowski note not only the slowdown in the reduction of the cost of storing a gigabyte of data, but also other criteria affecting also the pricing policy of manufacturers. It is speed, reliability and availability. They are now coming to the fore. The reason is the growing popularity of streaming services and cloud storage.
It is worth noting such areas as IoT and Big Data. The first has already started to be regulated at the level of the specialized Association of Internet Objects of Things ; the second is just planning to find an approach.
All this is a matter of the very near future, the significance of these industries and their specificity leave no doubt in the gradual change of the criteria to which the data storage market is “used”
This is not news for analysts, who in 2011 included smart sensors and medgadgets among the auxiliary drivers who would pull the data storage industry. (It is clear that 90% of the projected amount of data that will need to be stored at the time of 2020 was taken to the mail and video.)
In addition to changing the vector of values (from the struggle for accessibility to the belief in reliability and security), we will observe the gradual introduction of new data storage technologies. Of course, they will be going through similar stages of development, but each at their own pace.
Solutions like helium hard drives and SMR technologies can serve as good “bridges” on the way to DNA-based storage systems. The question is how this process will develop in terms of pricing for “transitional” solutions.
PS Related topics that we discuss in our blog:
- Big Data: great opportunity or big deception
- Virtual or physical server: cost comparison
- How an IaaS provider can make payment for services more convenient
- Inline and smart deduplication, snapshots and secondary storage
- Our IT infrastructure and equipment
PPS And a short survey on the trail of our brief news note:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/333658/
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