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IBM to Acquire SoftLayer

www-03.ibm.com

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Re: IBM to Acquire SoftLayer

#21

Post by jaredstenquist »

AJ007 wrote: post #19
josh2600 wrote: post #6

IBM is buying SoftLayer to try to go head up with AWS. It's not going to work. Personally I won't buy an IBM product because I know it's just like Oracle: software entrapment. Nothing wrong with that business model it's just not one I want to be involved with. In other news, great job by SoftLayer to exit as pricing pressure from AWS and GoogleAppEngine was going to steadily erode their margins over time. I feel the…

I've used SL in the past and have had business associates use them as well. I experienced nothing but problems, and regularly hear complaints from those who still use it. This may just be a case of IBM needing to acquire companies to add revenue to their financial statements.

I had the opposite experience. I used them for years and received prompt support, even getting direct to a sysadmin over the phone. I also regularly received up to 50% off their advertised prices just by doing a little negotiating.

Of course I say all this as an AWS customer, as the value flexibility far outweighed the value of support to me. Also, the last time I checked, You had to go through a standard server ordering form process to get a cloud server up and running.

Re: IBM to Acquire SoftLayer

#22

Post by bradleyjoyce »

dewitt wrote: post #5

Worth observing that for all the excitement about the recent crop of billion-dollar Silicon Valley startups, SoftLayer is based in Dallas, TX (and founded only in 2005). I suspect, and this will be easy enough to prove one way or the other after a few years so feel free to call me on it, that we'll see a disproportionate number of successful exits come from /outside/ the valley. My gut tells me that high-cost of livi…

The Dallas startup scene is exploding right now, especially for B2B companies.

Geographic convenience to both coasts, low taxes, low living costs, high concentration of Fortune 500s and a lot of good talent itching to leave their cubicles.

http://launchdfw.com/

Re: IBM to Acquire SoftLayer

#23

Post by Kallikrates »

ihsw wrote: post #14
josh2600 wrote: post #6

IBM is buying SoftLayer to try to go head up with AWS. It's not going to work. Personally I won't buy an IBM product because I know it's just like Oracle: software entrapment. Nothing wrong with that business model it's just not one I want to be involved with. In other news, great job by SoftLayer to exit as pricing pressure from AWS and GoogleAppEngine was going to steadily erode their margins over time. I feel the…

> Personally I won't buy an IBM product because I know it's just like Oracle: software entrapment. Nobody buys IBM or Oracle products, they become 'partners' and negotiate license agreements. The entrapment is different in that your software (and hardware!) decisions now involve lawyers.

Many of the extremely large east coast customers have directives to move away from licenses as fast as they can. The recent news of IBM's protest against Amazon is very related to this acquisition.

http://washingtontechnology.com/Articles/2013/05/31/amazon-p...

Re: IBM to Acquire SoftLayer

#24

Post by jborden13 »

dewitt wrote: post #5

Worth observing that for all the excitement about the recent crop of billion-dollar Silicon Valley startups, SoftLayer is based in Dallas, TX (and founded only in 2005). I suspect, and this will be easy enough to prove one way or the other after a few years so feel free to call me on it, that we'll see a disproportionate number of successful exits come from /outside/ the valley. My gut tells me that high-cost of livi…

Normally I would agree. But with regards to Dallas, we are a large corporation (and usually energy-focused) first town. The Dallas Morning News, our largest rag here locally, isn't even covering this acquisition:

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/

Hard to unseat or even compete with SV if you can't even get local attention or coverage for a big tech/startup win.

Re: IBM to Acquire SoftLayer

#25

Post by rdl »

josh2600 wrote: post #6

IBM is buying SoftLayer to try to go head up with AWS. It's not going to work. Personally I won't buy an IBM product because I know it's just like Oracle: software entrapment. Nothing wrong with that business model it's just not one I want to be involved with. In other news, great job by SoftLayer to exit as pricing pressure from AWS and GoogleAppEngine was going to steadily erode their margins over time. I feel the…

This mostly makes me sad; softlayer was my default choice for managed hosting, and I really don't think I'd want to use IBM for this.

Re: IBM to Acquire SoftLayer

#26

Post by nknighthb »

hemancuso wrote: post #4
mathattack wrote: post #2

The purchase makes sense, though I would have thought they have all the cloud parts they need in house. Is this more of an application play?

25k customers paying into this cloud is also pretty valuable for IBM

IBM had 104 billion in revenue and 16 billion in earnings last year. I'm not sure I see 25,000 SL customers, most of whom are quite small, as substantially more than noise on IBM's books.

Re: IBM to Acquire SoftLayer

#27

Post by timjahn »

bradleyjoyce wrote: post #22
dewitt wrote: post #5

Worth observing that for all the excitement about the recent crop of billion-dollar Silicon Valley startups, SoftLayer is based in Dallas, TX (and founded only in 2005). I suspect, and this will be easy enough to prove one way or the other after a few years so feel free to call me on it, that we'll see a disproportionate number of successful exits come from /outside/ the valley. My gut tells me that high-cost of livi…

The Dallas startup scene is exploding right now, especially for B2B companies. Geographic convenience to both coasts, low taxes, low living costs, high concentration of Fortune 500s and a lot of good talent itching to leave their cubicles. http://launchdfw.com/

I love seeing more and more online blogs/publications/hubs like Launch DFW popping up for startup activity in cities across the US. A great way to connect people locally and share the happenings with those all over.

Re: IBM to Acquire SoftLayer

#28

Post by masonhensley »

bradleyjoyce wrote: post #22
dewitt wrote: post #5

Worth observing that for all the excitement about the recent crop of billion-dollar Silicon Valley startups, SoftLayer is based in Dallas, TX (and founded only in 2005). I suspect, and this will be easy enough to prove one way or the other after a few years so feel free to call me on it, that we'll see a disproportionate number of successful exits come from /outside/ the valley. My gut tells me that high-cost of livi…

The Dallas startup scene is exploding right now, especially for B2B companies. Geographic convenience to both coasts, low taxes, low living costs, high concentration of Fortune 500s and a lot of good talent itching to leave their cubicles. http://launchdfw.com/

I always forget about TechWildcatters even though I live 3 blocks away from them (Softlayer is 6 blocks in the other direction from my apt.)

I wonder why TWC's most recent class has so many concert related businesses (2-3 on quick inspection.) That's something I'd expect from a city like Nashville (a past home.)

Anyways, go Dallas!

Re: IBM to Acquire SoftLayer

#29

Post by freehunter »

josh2600 wrote: post #6

IBM is buying SoftLayer to try to go head up with AWS. It's not going to work. Personally I won't buy an IBM product because I know it's just like Oracle: software entrapment. Nothing wrong with that business model it's just not one I want to be involved with. In other news, great job by SoftLayer to exit as pricing pressure from AWS and GoogleAppEngine was going to steadily erode their margins over time. I feel the…

I would be surprised if Rackspace sold out to Oracle, considering how Rackspace has a stated goal to fight patent trolls.

Re: IBM to Acquire SoftLayer

#30

Post by late2part »

freehunter wrote: post #29
josh2600 wrote: post #6

IBM is buying SoftLayer to try to go head up with AWS. It's not going to work. Personally I won't buy an IBM product because I know it's just like Oracle: software entrapment. Nothing wrong with that business model it's just not one I want to be involved with. In other news, great job by SoftLayer to exit as pricing pressure from AWS and GoogleAppEngine was going to steadily erode their margins over time. I feel the…

I would be surprised if Rackspace sold out to Oracle, considering how Rackspace has a stated goal to fight patent trolls.

Well, you'll probably be surprised, then.
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