Backblaze Is 16!

April 20, 2023 by Backblaze // Leave a comment

Hey, we can drive! (Pun absolutely intended.) Some days it’s hard to believe that what started as a “crazy” dream in a one-bedroom apartment has evolved into what we’re celebrating today—16 years of blazing on (pun, ahem, also intended).

To mark the occasion, we thought we’d share some of our highlights from past years. If you want to hear co-founder and CEO Gleb Budman talking about our evolution (plus where he thinks cloud storage is going in the future), check out his recent appearance on The Cloudcast podcast.

And, here are some other great moments for your reading and viewing pleasure:

• Throwback to this article on our five-year anniversary—it has some great photos.
• Check out our very first viral moment, Petabytes on a Budget, and read more about our Storage Pods as they exist today.
• Watch our product evolution from Personal Backup to B2 Storage Cloud, with an intentional focus on the importance of the specialized cloud landscape through our Partner Program, B2 Reserve pricing, commitment to our developer community and open sourcing, and participation in industry alliances.
• See how the Backblaze community came together to farm hard drives during the Thailand Drive Crisis.
• Read about how we were almost acquired; then later, our IPO announcement and thoughts on why more businesses should consider going public.
• Dig into the Drive Stats reports and data from the beginning (10 years ago!).
• View some of our technical content like our article on Reed-Solomon erasure coding, a history of the Python Gil, and load balancing while managing servers.

You already know there’s much, much more on the Backblaze blog, and we love chatting with folks in article comments and on socials. After all, we wouldn’t be here without all of you!

Thanks for supporting us over the years. If you feel like spreading the love, you can always refer a friend. (You’ll be prompted to log in so that you get credit for the referral.) Your friend will get a month free to try Backblaze, and when they sign up, you’ll get one too!