The net is full of articles talking about how this or that technology company is controlling their software, hardware, IP (Intellectual Property) or some other item that they want to complain about. You also cannot run a search on net-neutrality, DCMA, MPAA, RIAA, Pirate Bay or, of course Apple without hearing about how medieval and out dated their concepts of fair usage is. I have talked about this kind of corporate control for years as well. It I oppressive, stifles the market and Hurst consumers. However, there is one type of control that is good for the consumer. This is the type of control that Kingston is holding over their ValueRAM Server Premier memory. What Kingston has done is take their already great server memory and add an extra level of quality control to ensure maximum performance and stability. They have done this by controlling every part that goes into this product right down to the revision of chip die. Let’s take a quick look at how this works and what it means to the consumer and enterprise.
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It’s our Lot in life…
So why are different Lots bad? To put it simply a Lot is a group of components or products that were all manufactured the same way and at the same time. This is often referred to as a production run. Once that run is complete there can be small changes to the way the next group of pieces are manufactured. This is normal and happens over the manufacturing life of a specific part. This is why you may hear about a recall of a product with serial numbers ending in “XXYYY” those numbers identify the Lot. Now, as we mentioned, there is a normal shifting in a product over its manufacturing lifecycle. This shifting is very gradual and is normally not noticeable to the consumer as parts from adjacent Lots (Lots that were made before and/or after a specific Lot) are usually so close that it makes no difference in performance or stability. Where things begin to go south is when there are massive differences in the Lot numbers (say 10 or more). Then things can get a little weird.
