> isn't this industry slowly turning into just virtualized hardware leasing? After the management tools commoditize, and I think there's a solid risk of that,

> isn't this industry slowly turning into just virtualized hardware leasing? After the management tools commoditize, and I think there's a solid risk of that, isn't it just price and DC-location that differentiate? Well, I don't think it's like aircraft or auto leasing. More like apartment or office leasing -- there's also a property management, maintenance, and operation dimension. You're not just paying for hardware in a rack. You're paying for electricity, cooling, fire prevention, connectivity, and some level of uptime. i.e. You're paying for not having to worry about a bunch of stuff, so you can focus on your core business problems. Even with standardized management software, at some point a human needs to go into a cage, or deal with the backhoe emergency. (OK, unless someday Amazon drones are deployed in data centers, instead of doing residential delivery. :))