No, there is significantly more complexity, overhead, and R&D to providing cloud services in comparison to bare metal. SoftLayer is actually a very expensive bare metal server provider. There are several good options that cost less than 1/3rd the price. Realistically, at just modest scale (a few physical servers), you should see 1/6th the cost of Amazon.
The main benefits of Amazon is that it:
a) allows you to scale down i.e. buy services in smaller portions than complete physical servers
and
b) APIs
c) integrated features
You could probably pay for one devops position once your infrastructure gets to 10 physical servers.
The main benefits of Amazon is that it: a) allows you to scale down i.e. buy services in smaller portions than complete physical servers and b) APIs c) integrated features
You could probably pay for one devops position once your infrastructure gets to 10 physical servers.