I think ben_jones is trying to imply that the black box would BE your email server, etc. He did say "Knock out dependencies on a dozen third party services in

I think ben_jones is trying to imply that the black box would BE your email server, etc. He did say "Knock out dependencies on a dozen third party services in one fell swoop.", which seems to strongly imply not relying on an email provider, social network provider, etc.