Comment on Europe is looking for alternatives to US cloud providers
spark947@lemm.ee 1 week agoI think you are dicounting how simple most cloud applications are - compute cores, bucket storage and virtual Networks make up the vast majority, with block storage and serverless compute probably making up a second to everything else being a distant third. I agree that there is specialization involved, but I also believe that regulation could go a long way to ensuring better access and making it possible for more competition. Right now, only a few companies have a monopoly on the datacenter infrastructure itself.
This is actually a lot more similar to power Utilities, which hides a vast and complex system of demand based generation that is hidden by ISOs. A regulatory system could work really well, and deliver much more and better service at lower prices. Otherwise we will see Cloud providers raising prices and offering deals more towards the large enterprises that can build billing support, which was the original complaint.
Not that I think we are close to that. Legislation around technology is woefully bad and behind in the US at least.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
The thing is, people often switch providers due to poor network speeds, overprovisioned resources, and outdated hardware. Budget hosts use older hardware and whatnot to keep prices down, and premium hosts use newer hardware to justify a higher price.
If regulations come in that cap certain costs, it’ll likely devolve into a race to the bottom per unit, with larger companies generally winning because they can get better deals on hardware due to hulk pricing. I imagine it could kill segmentation as well.
Maybe it would be okay. I’m just not very confident in my government to craft sensible policy that doesn’t just benefit the largest lobbies, as in, the largest providers.
spark947@lemm.ee 14 hours ago
You are describing a scenario similar to the Texas power grid where that has indeed happened and then prices go up anyway as services are knocked out from a lack of investment in infrastructure. Similar stuff happens today when a vulnerability in S3 emerges or something like that. It is still a race to the bottom, and we have absolutely seen stagnation in service offerings.
The Independent System Operator (ISO) system works extremely well to field multiple producers and negotiate for the best rates among competition. It’s one of the reasons why we all take electricity for granted, unless you live in Texas or on a less serious scale Arizona where two corprorate entities are grandfathered in to manage the supply, they enjoy a duopoly and the rates for the service is not very competitive.