Branded server vendors: Who ate our lunch? The overall branded server market may be in continual decline, but there is one area that is flowering - the Original Design Manufacturers building systems directly for cloudy giants such as Amazon and Facebook. For the first time IDC has broken out the numbers for an ODM Direct segment, which includes Quanta Computer, Wistron …
I've seen ODM and OEM before, not sure how many others will have.
I'm unfamiliar with "second platform workload" and so is Goofle. Third platform workload gets a few hits apparently derived from the same press release that spawned this article.
Anyway, when you're google and amazon, a server is a custom built disposable item. If one fails, redirect to one of the designed-in spares. Google's system (less so Amazon's) is mostly non-transactional so there's no need to worry about data loss or even data integrity. Then recycle the broken one. No "line replaceable items", no repairs. Landfill?
Google and amazon buy a lot of kit. How much do they buy in comparison with the rest of the market, the people who can't afford custom designs and who do (directly or indirectly) care about spares and repairs?
"ODM" means the people that are actually making the computers. The major brands outsourced manufacturing to Asia years ago.
This will eventually happen to every company that outsourced. Overseas partners will eventually sell direct to your customers and cut you out of the deal.
"ODM" means the people that are actually making the computers."
It may well also be them that *designs* the computers to a big-name vendors specification. So the ODM designs and makes the product, to someone else's specification. Almost all laptops come out of Taiwanese ODMs, whoever's name is on the badge. Compal and Quanta, for example, design and make but few people have heard of them.
"Overseas partners will eventually sell direct to your customers and cut you out of the deal."
Lenovo springs to mind here, though presumably IBM knew what they were up to in that case. HP? Clueless. Dell? Hopeless.
Anyway, I'm still waiting for the word on "second tier workload", suggestions welcome.
Suspect the writer (and other writers) isn't being too careful with their use of tech. terms.
2nd and 3rd tier apps/workloads would seem to refer to a 3-tier architecture and hence refers to the application server layer and to the back end applications and databases.
The "Third platform" is an IDC coined term to refer to the combination of cloud, mobile, social and big data. ie. an architecture that embraces four key tech trends. It is used to imply a generational change in architecture with the first platform/generation being mainframe centric and second platform/generation being client/server. Basically, what IDC are saying "the network is the computer"...
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