imgix is an image processing and delivery service that provides a supremely flexible, high performance, ultra-reliable solution to the problem of serving images on the modern internet. We operate our own hardware, run our own datacenters, and manage our own network infrastructure. At imgix’s scale, maximizing efficiency and performance in image processing is critical for success. For this reason, we decided to incorporate Mac Pros in planning the build of our next generation image renderers. Because no existing Mac Pro server rack suited our needs, we designed and built our own.
Crazy custom build. Can’t be cheap.
Sounds interesting, and I would love the see the pictures of this insanity, but ofcouse a company with so much more money than brains can even make a functioning website.
All I had to do was allow JavaScript… same as with Apple’s website when people started talking about “the new cylindrical Mac Pro”.
It seems to make absolutely no sense to run a mac pro as a server, when you can build a Linux box for like 1/10 the price.
Its a server, so no need to run desktop apps.
Apparently their money-making code was written against MacOS X-specific APIs. (Not that it makes them any less foolish)
However, I should also say that there is one legitimate reason for racking Macs: It’s the only legal way to include OSX nodes in your buildbot and/or continuous integration server farm.
Morale of the story: if you’re going to write software against non-portable APIs (not a great idea to begin with), make sure it’s Unix, Linux or even Windows.
Writing server-side code (or libraries) that can only run on OS/X is a bad idea.
It all depends on what one is trying to accomplish.
Writing against POSIX means command line tools and server programming model stuck in the 80’s.
For anything else it means spending the effort of adding an abstraction layer between the application code and platform specific functionality and not everyone feels like spending the effort.
Not all aspects of software development are “fun and sexy” but laziness up front isn’t free; you pay for it later. In this case, they’re paying for it by being tied to a costly unsuitable server platform.
Each added platform adds cost to debugging and development costs, which might not be relevant for the
intended target audience.
Interesting you mention Qt, they are still playing catchup to the mobile platforms support, to the point it is still cheaper to use raw C++ libraries + native platform APIs for the UIs, than workaround Qt’s current support level.
While I will not judge them for building their system with reliance on OSX frameworks, I do consider them not moving away to a fully custom stack at their scale.
To be very direct – they are very odd. They went from “do not reinvent the wheel” to “hammering in a nail with a screwdriver”.
MacPro’s have exceptional value for workstation GPUs, the whole box costs less than the comparable GPUs retail value.
What a waste of money. Seriously.
I found this part rather funny:
“as little as two hours”….
If everything is already integrated, how on earth does take “as little as” two hours before the server is online? Heck, I’ve built Windows and Linux rackservers from scratch and had them online in less than that.
Edited 2015-05-09 07:46 UTC
Looks like a clever solution, but high risk solution.
1. If a design fault is found with that model, in 2 years they could all start failing.
2. What long term maintenance? Apple’s service parts are definitely not cost effective, and in 3 years, maintenance costs will skyrocket far beyond any competitor using normal mATX/ATX rackmount systems (because only Apple parts can be used, and they aren’t cheap).
3. And you most likely won’t be able to upgrade these Mac Pro’s.
4. If Apple changes the profile of their Mac Pro cases, the new ones may not fit on the rack.
5. “Rapid Deployment technology” generally doesn’t involve building your own rack modules..
6. Finally, Mac Pro’s aren’t cost effective (especially long term). So this means any competitor could build a competing system for considerably less
The riskiest time for this company will be the moment Applecare expires on the units (since I suspect they were given a large amount of money to start the company). And if there is a design fault in the Mac Pro’s which cause premature failure of boards, it might take a while to surface.
If I was building an image processing company, I’d ensure I use multiple vendors
Edited 2015-05-06 23:29 UTC
I expect that they’ll keep them until apple care expires.
At that point a new model will be released that they’ll upgrade these units from/to.
The existing units will then be sold on ebay where they’ll have retained pretty much all their value as the cases will be in pretty much perfect condition, and if they stored the boxes they came in, would be ‘as new’.
Like most mac hardware, because their value for resell is quite high, they might actually save money in the long run from buying disposable Linux racks.
Aren’t companies already using Mini’s for virtual renting a Mac for development? This wil go nicely with this business practice and I’m sure there are people that will rent this thing for a nice monthly price.
Why invest 4000 bucks on a Mac Pro when you can rent one (especially if the project lasts only a couple of months).
If you really MUST run code on OSX, just hackintosh some cheapo supermicros and call it a day … save yourself a couple of tens of thousands in the process.
Or set up a virtualized environment.
I own a (previous gen) 8 core mac pro. It’s a kickass workstation, but i wouldn’t rack it. I certainly wouldn’t go through that amount of trouble to rack it …
Edited 2015-05-07 22:14 UTC
You can get away with that on a small scale… but you probably will find Apple Lawyers pounding on your door if you build a business on top of a farm of hackintoshes. Unless you were able to talk apple into licensing OSX for your unique usage… so far I don’t think anyone has been able to do that.
Or they could just port their code.
Trying to do datacentre grade computing on macs is just not a bright idea. The hardware just isn’t there. Xserves used to be very decent, but expensive. Racking a mac pro is just … dumb.
Ah, the trash can. I keep forgetting that Apple dumped their tower design for that thing.
Then again, it is the same company that basically dropped the Xserver over night.
Any company that are dependent on Apple for their livelihood is bound to get shafted at some point or other.
Because when I think efficient and performant backend processing I think Mac Pro.
Holy balls, who gave these fools money?