Item: IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
Rating: 7
Author: Qing Miao

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our internal IT department uses IBM Cloud Virtual Servers to host and run all of our internal systems. This means we have not had to procure, maintain, or support the hardware infrastructure ourselves (including network, electricity, backup, etc.) and can focus on our own business instead.

Pros and Cons

Automatic scaling depends on usage and demand.
Easy to work with.
Cost can be lowered if you can find a good reseller (VAT).

Support turnaround can take a while due to timezones, etc. Once had to wait on the phone on Saturday for hours in order to get ahold of someone.
Reliability can be better, especially if you are running mission critical systems and need 99+% uptime guarantee.
Communication about changes (e.g. pricing) should be more prompt and timely.

Return on Investment

Freed up our team to focus on working on our own products and not having to worry about maintaining and patching servers.
On-demand procurement allowed our team to quickly spin up servers as needed and shut them down when work is done.

IBM Cloud Virtual Servers Transient Pricing

This allowed us to pay as we went, and only pay for what we used. So instead of having to commit to a big budget right away, we were able to start small, and ramp up (or down) as our needs changed.

IBM Cloud Virtual Servers Reserved Servers

We did not have to use this.

IBM Cloud Virtual Servers Dedicated Hosts

We did not use this.

Alternatives Considered

Azure Virtual Machines and AWS Cloud9

IBM Cloud Virtual Servers had a slightly lower cost (possibly due to reseller discount) compared to both Azure Virtual Machines and AWS Cloud9, although not significantly lower. IBM has better support for Linux compared to Azure but that gap is narrowing recently as Microsoft has announced official support for Linux along with Windows for Azure Virtual Machines.

IBM Cloud Portfolio

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service
IBM Cloud Foundry
IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers

IBM Cloud does provide tools to link and integrate all the various cloud systems and offerings together, and this is improving over time, too.

Other Software Used

IBM Cloud Foundry, Azure App Service, Microsoft Azure Active Directory

Likelihood to Recommend

If your company is already invested in IBM, then you may consider using this, as you can probably get a better deal (price-wise) either negotiating with their sellers or via a reseller (both of which you would likely already have if you are buying from IBM already).

Let IBM handle the servers so you can handle your business

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Cloud Virtual Servers