3 ms·

Most of these key products "feel" expensive to me, which is purely subjective. Can someone more knowledgeable explain where the cost comes from? Small runs, ext

Most of these key products "feel" expensive to me, which is purely subjective. Can someone more knowledgeable explain where the cost comes from? Small runs, extended research, custom hardware issues, etc? All of the above?

ZiiS 6y ago
I think the bigger companies like Yubico are probably now doing runs large enough to be able to compete with many other consumer electronics. So far as amortising R&D and strait manufacture costs. However they have very high marketing costs as it is harder to explain to the non-Hacker News crowd. They also have little competition, and a high perceived value so are probably slightly price inflated. As a value proposition I am very happy with mine, and the ones I have given my family.
- zxcmx 6y ago
  They're a business device. Historically, if you have a genuine business need for an HSM you're likely to be spending tens of thousands upwards on compliance costs and key management. The device itself has become such a blip of a line item that it's dropped into the prosumer range. I think this is partly due to racked HSMs (with a dedicated priesthood to perform the necessary rites) being slowly replaced with KMS and cloud HSMs in many (most?) new applications. I'm not sure these things (small HSMs) can ever trend down to being true consumer commodities in their current form. The problem is that long-term you WILL lose your data unless you do proper key management, which is not something most people can do for themselves.
- StavrosK 6y ago
  I predict (and hope) FIDO2 will commoditize all these keys.
jans23 6y ago
I think this can be better explained by starting with the company (instead of the device) which is lean but still requires development and maintenance, purchasing and manufacturing, billing and accounting, customer support, management, shipment and logistics. Those tasks need to be paid.

ZiiS 6y ago

I think the bigger companies like Yubico are probably now doing runs large enough to be able to compete with many other consumer electronics. So far as amortising R&D and strait manufacture costs. However they have very high marketing costs as it is harder to explain to the non-Hacker News crowd. They also have little competition, and a high perceived value so are probably slightly price inflated. As a value proposition I am very happy with mine, and the ones I have given my family.

zxcmx 6y ago
They're a business device. Historically, if you have a genuine business need for an HSM you're likely to be spending tens of thousands upwards on compliance costs and key management. The device itself has become such a blip of a line item that it's dropped into the prosumer range. I think this is partly due to racked HSMs (with a dedicated priesthood to perform the necessary rites) being slowly replaced with KMS and cloud HSMs in many (most?) new applications. I'm not sure these things (small HSMs) can ever trend down to being true consumer commodities in their current form. The problem is that long-term you WILL lose your data unless you do proper key management, which is not something most people can do for themselves.
StavrosK 6y ago
I predict (and hope) FIDO2 will commoditize all these keys.

jans23 6y ago

I think this can be better explained by starting with the company (instead of the device) which is lean but still requires development and maintenance, purchasing and manufacturing, billing and accounting, customer support, management, shipment and logistics. Those tasks need to be paid.