Tech updates: SSDs have lower failure rates than disk drives, TeamViewer focuses on AR, and SaaS cost optimization trends.

Let’s end the week with a potpourri of resources and data.   

First, new Backblaze data has found that its SSD annual failure rate was 0.98 percent compared to 1.64 percent for disk drives, a difference of 0.66 percentage points.  The other data point – SMART data used for drive state reporting is applied inconsistently across manufacturers, making it useless for comparisons. 

TeamViewer has revamped its partner program and focuses on its Augmented Reality business.    The new program includes its remote connectivity partners yet extends to service opportunities in the AR space.

I spotted (and it was reinforced by a listener) some research in TechCrunch related to SaaS cost optimization and management.    The approach broke down the space into two categories of product:  Cloud infrastructure cost optimization and management, Vendor stack cost optimization and management, and Next-generation financial planning and analysis (FP&A) tools.    

Why do we care?

The first two felt important and tactical, and I will dwell a moment on the third.   With cloud being the direction of services, there’s an ever-increasing number of players in the management space.  I noted the lack of channel focus for most of these companies in this report.    Or, told another way, the research considers companies not in the channel space to be the leaders.     Take that both ways – and note that it remains an unanswered question for providers.