RATHER YOU THAN ME DROPSHARE SOFTWARE
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What do you do when the arteries of globalization come to a screeching halt? Western Digital was equally worried about what this logistics mayhem meant for not only Dropbox, but for the rest of the tech industry. вЂњBorders suddenly closed, piling a backlog of goods for days at a time, while airports simply ceased operations,вЂќ shared Ryan Inouye, VP of Supply Chain at Western Digital. The company needed to move millions of technologies, materials and products, but saw global transit lanes crippling. With a dozen factories around the globe, Western DigitalвЂ™s manufacturing flow is very complex. On the other side of that supply chain was Western Digital. вЂњIt was certainly a moment of PANIC.вЂќ The Gates of Globalization Shut Down First, my head was racing trying to figure out what this means for me вЂ“ should I run out to buy food? Will I be able see my family? And then came the thought about what this means for Dropbox,вЂќ recounts Refugio.

They announced the San Francisco Bay AreaВ shelter-in-place orders.

RATHER YOU THAN ME DROPSHARE TV

I had a coffee in my hand and I turned on the TV to watch the news. It was my first few days working from home. But as lockdowns finally reached their San Francisco Bay Area factories, Refugio realized they were about to face a never-before-seen disruption to data center hardware supply. They even proactively exchanged 30,000 components in their data centers. Dropbox began accelerating and buying more of their data infrastructure inventory. RefugioвЂ™s team was valiantly trying to stay a step ahead. And, the lockdown was about to take place during the Chinese New Year, a holiday known for traveling and considered the worldвЂ™s largest human migrationвЂ¦ Wuhan, where the virus was first reported, is an important logistical hub in the server component industry. Even when Dropbox saw some of their services increaseВ by 40% since March, and the surge in activity started to вЂњput pressure on ensuring thereвЂ™s enough physical infrastructure in place,вЂќ he recounts.ДЄs the aforementioned alarmist, itвЂ™s not surprising that Refugio and his team scoped the risk of the pandemic early on. He understands disruption and isnвЂ™t easily shaken. Refugio Fernandez describes his job as вЂњbeing perpetually aware of risks.вЂќ He explained, вЂњI always assume that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong.вЂќ Refugio is a supply chain manager at Western Digital customer and partner, Dropbox. A Data Center Supply Chain Disruption Like No Other

RATHER YOU THAN ME DROPSHARE SOFTWARE

If our main focus until today has been on software and hardware architecture, we now have to master new ways of approaching logistics and resources amid utter uncertainty,вЂќ Marcin said.

вЂњWe have to completely rethink how we do things. Marcin explained that вЂњthe team moving the infrastructure may face a two-week quarantine upon entering the UK from Poland, another quarantine when bringing equipment for maintenance in CloudFerroвЂ™s Warsaw lab, and a third quarantine when they integrate the servers in Italy.вЂќ That is, if no lockdown happens first. And, if thereвЂ™s one thing that has become especially unwieldly amid this pandemic, itвЂ™s travel. Massive data sets arenвЂ™t migrated using a network cable, but rather by hiring a 26-foot truck. Even under normal circumstances, petabytes of data are hard to move. вЂњOne of our customers needs to move their cloud infrastructure from the UK to Italy,вЂќ Marcin said. And, in some cases, these clouds need relocation. Many of their customers require dedicated, private cloud installations. The Physicality of the CloudД¬loudFerro focuses on special market segments, such as the European space sector вЂ“ think satellites images, scientific research and REALLY big data. вЂњThe fact that within 24 hours, we moved our operations to a remote-work setup without any complications, is a proof of the cloudвЂ™s hands-off model, how stable and scalable cloud architecture is, and the quality of the underlying hardware infrastructure.вЂќД«ut itвЂ™s not all blue skies. вЂњAlthough we have seen more activity, we have not experienced any issues in the systems or services we are providing during this crisis,вЂќ said Marcin Kowalski, product manager at CloudFerro, a European cloud service provider and one of Western DigitalвЂ™s customers. While many feared that the sudden increase in activity would cause the internet to break, or that cloud outages would prevail, the cloud has proven largely resilient. It seems like no matter how many video meetings, streaming binges or viral dance challenges we throw at it, the cloud never says no. Illustrations by Aisha Alkinaey.ДЄs the world was scrambling to adjust to the new COVID-19 reality, cloud usage has been indisputably soaring.

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