Building proprietary hardware and analytics drives platform centralisation

Evidence

If data collection is a key task of platforms, analysis is the necessary correlate. The proliferation of data-generating devices creates a vast new repository of data, which requires increasingly large and sophisticated storage and analysis tools, further driving the centralisation of these platforms. If expanding the capacity to collect data is one competitive imperative for these companies, developing corresponding means of analysis is another. Advances in hardware, database organisation, and network infrastructure therefore all play significant roles in gaining speed and insight advantages over one’s competitors. Much of Google’s initial success, for instance, stemmed from its pioneering work of creating useful internal software and innovative hardware architecture. Rather uniquely, Google designs and builds its own custom servers rather than purchasing standard servers off the market – again, in an effort to gain competitive advantage. — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 86

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A platform’s structural position gives it privileged access to record interactions — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 46; Cloud platforms operate like utilities centralizing essential infrastructure — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 60; Cloud platforms consolidated the platform into a powerful business model — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 58 (+2 more)

Related

• Cloud platforms consolidated the platform into a powerful business model (similarity 0.86)
• Cloud platforms operate like utilities centralizing essential infrastructure (similarity 0.83)
• A platform’s structural position gives it privileged access to record interactions (similarity 0.81)
• The cloud centralizes data ownership in corporations that earlier internet models distributed. (similarity 0.80)
• Platform companies converge into similar forms as they compete for the same data. (similarity 0.79)
• Platforms look like markets but are centralized fiefs owned by algorithms (similarity 0.79)
• Platforms commonly originate as solutions to internal company needs (similarity 0.79)
• Renting cloud infrastructure yields data extraction alongside rental income (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Platforms look like markets but are centralized fiefs owned by algorithms #corroborates (0.82) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 868