Jan 2, 2019 · 25m · a16z
a16z Podcast | Datacenter of the Future
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of the a16z Podcast, Chris Dixon and Peter Levine discuss how mobile supply chains, web-scale architecture, and software abstraction are transforming modern data centers and reshaping enterprise IT investment.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. How this is scored →
The host as informed peer 6.0 Guest teaching 3.0 Guest disagreement 1.3 The host pushing back 2.9
speaking balance: gold is the host, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 12:56 Dismissing Amazon's architectural leadership
Peter explicitly counters the popular belief that Amazon is leading cloud infrastructure, stating that AWS is built on an older virtual machine generation compared to Google and Facebook.
Hardest push from the host ▶ 12:48 Refusing framing on Amazon's cloud roleChris directly interrupts and pushes back when Peter omits Amazon from leading cloud innovations, arguing that most people consider Amazon the prime leader.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 13:19 Explaining VM vs container architectural generationsPeter educates Chris on why Amazon's infrastructure is generational tech behind Google/Facebook due to its dependency on virtual machines rather than containerized Linux environments.
The host holds their own ▶ 17:09 Inception analogy of virtual machinesChris demonstrates profound domain knowledge by taking over the conversation to explain the architectural flaws of hypervisors as a 'dream within a dream' hack.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | The host as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | The host pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evolution from Traditional Enterprise IT to Web-Scale Architecture | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Chris Dixon demonstrates strong industry knowledge, outlining historical shifts from Rackspace and Oracle to web-scale architectures like Facebook and Google. He frames the premise that Facebook is more advanced in networking than Cisco, which Peter validates and expands upon. | |
| The Mobile Supply Chain Powering Future Data Centers | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Chris actively synthesizes technical ideas, offering the analogy that a cloud datacenter is essentially reconfigured smartphones using ARM chips. He also explains how startups historically modeled datacenters after Wall Street firms like Fidelity, driving the conversation forward with high expertise. | |
| Software-Defined Networking Portfolio Spotlight: Nicera and Cumulus | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | Chris prompts discussions around software-defined networking and storage investments, asking why commodity hardware wasnt adopted earlier. Peter gently corrects/schools him by explaining that x86/PCs were the previous generation's commodity, whereas mobile components mark the current wave. | |
| Future Cloud Models: Private, Public, and Containerized Architecture | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | Chris directly challenges Peter's assertion that Google and Facebook are leading over Amazon, pointing out that Amazon is universally recognized as the cloud leader. Peter explains that Amazon relies on older virtual machine architectures rather than modern containerization. | |
| Mesosphere and the Data Center-Scale Operating System | 8 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Chris provides an articulate conceptual breakdown of Mesosphere, comparing datacenter scale OS scheduling to single-server operating system tasks. Peter agrees enthusiastically with the accuracy of Chris's server-to-datacenter analogy. | |
| Virtual Machines versus Containerization | 9 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Chris takes complete command of the topic, explaining containerization versus virtual machines using an Inception-like 'dream within a dream' metaphor. He details deployment friction and how Linux dominance makes server virtualization obsolete. | |
| Hosted Open Source as a Service and New Monetization Models | 6 | 4 | 2 | 5 | Chris questions whether GitHub's business model for open source is a generalizable pattern or an exception due to network effects. Peter argues that turning open source into a managed service unlocks its full market potential. | |
| Podcast Conclusion | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Brief standard podcast sign-off and time limit conclusion. |
Statements from this episode (15)
Peter Levine: Data center innovation is driven by the mobile revolution
“Data center, which tends to be the plumbing of the internet has been one of these pretty state areas for a long time. And all of a sudden, there's been this unlocking of lots of innovation happening in the data center, largely on the back of, and not uncoincid…”
Levine: Facebook and Google Outpace Cisco in Networking Sophistication
“Yeah it's very fair to say. I think they, Facebook and Google, have absolutely pushed the needle on back-end data center infrastructure”
Levine: The Mobile Supply Chain Is Eating the Data Center
“We like to say the mobile supply chain is eating the data center, right?”
Levine: Mobile hardware will solve data center power and cooling constraints
“Power and cooling are critical elements in designing a data center these days, so to the extent that we can go design a data center that uses much less power, requires much less cooling is optimizing on floor space, those are the ingredients for massive scale-…”
Dixon: A quarter to a third of a16z investments involve data center tech
“So, you know, I know probably what a quarter, maybe even a third of our investments are around data center technology.”
Levine: Cumulus Networks matches Cisco and Juniper performance on commodity hardware
“What they are doing is taking commodity hardware, putting a layer of Open source and closed source software on top of commodity servers and turning that into a new switch that is as fast as is, you know, as capable as some of the most proprietary systems that …”
Levine: Flash storage costs will soon reach parity with spinning media
“We can literally see in the not too distant future the cost of flash storage devices being the same price as, you know, spinning media, and that's going to be very compelling.”
Levine: Every datacenter of the future will be scale-out architecture
“Every data center of the future will be a scale out data center, right? Applications are going to change. The user base is going to need that as, you know, again, mobile, and then we start to think about Internet of Things as, You know, collecting all this inf…”
Levine: On-premise datacenters will disappear in favor of cloud models
“I think that the economics and the way that data centers are going to be built is going to drive everyone to private or public clouds, and the notion of the on-prem data center starts to disappear.”
Levine: Google and Facebook infrastructure is more advanced than AWS
“I think that the Google and Facebook infrastructure is now moving in my opinion, more advanced than what Amazon is. Amazon was created several, many, sort of, already generations ago, relative to this commoditization curve.”
Levine: Containers outperform virtual machines by standardizing on Linux
“Containers use far less compute resources there. You know, it used to be where I had to support Windows and Linux on a machine, therefore virtual machines are important. Now it's only Linux on both sides. Linux as the base operating system and running within t…”
Chris Dixon: Containers render virtual machines obsolete, though transition takes time
“It seems like one of these, it's a rare thing where it just seems like it's a no-brainer, dramatic improvement over virtual machines, and they're just, VMs are over. . I mean, it's gonna take a while.”
Chris Dixon: Linux has completely won the server operating system market
“Linux is so, people don't understand, some people don't understand, it's so thoroughly one.”