IBM Softlayer or Amazon Web Services: What is your experience?

Having a great foundation before you start your tech product is important. It has been quite troublesome for some tech start-ups I have met who have not set up a proper technology framework (including your cloud service provider) and were unable to scale beyond a certain number of users. They eventually scrap whatever they did and rebuilt a brand new system, which set them back by a few months in their progress.

One key topic among tech founders is the choice of the cloud service provider. The two dominant players are IBM Softlayer and Amazon Web Services. I have heard many conflicting experiences from tech start-ups, but to summarise:

IBM Softlayer

1.  Simple to implement and quick to deploy.
2. However, you will need a very good scalable framework, designed by a very skilled engineer. Why so? Beyond a certain number of users, the resources get chewed up quickly and if the framework is badly done, the system lags. A tech founder even told me that Softlayer works better in the US because they have very skilled engineers there but there is a lack of quality engineers in Asia.
3. Very basic functions (I am unsure what that meant as well)

Amazon Web Services

1. Steep learning curve on understanding how the features work.
2. Very scalable and easy to shut off different types of services as and when needed.
3. Framework is less of a concern.

I have very little understanding of cloud services so I am throwing this out to the community, especially to the topic experts and tech founders to shed some light. With the feedback, I would be glad to pass it along to our friends at Softlayer and AWS for their review. If there are other options as well, do highlight them! 🙂

Note from Huiyi, TIA’s community manager:
Ethics disclaimer: Angels Gate Advisory has partnered with Softlayer to sponsor free cloud server credits to its start-ups. Its aim is to provide relevant information to start-ups on their decision of a cloud service provider. It does not make it compulsory for its start-ups to take Softlayer as a service. 🙂