Ask HN: Virtualized cloud computing?

[buzzzlight]

I searched HN but couldn't find an answer to this question: has anyone found a hosting service that offers a virtual private server (VPS) running on a cloud? I ask because most cloud computing plans seem to run about $70 per month, but surely they could be virtualized to allow multiple users to share one slice.

I did find this:

http://vexxhost.com/dedicatedservers.htm

http://vexxhost.com/cloud_hosting/pricing

Maybe there is room for a startup to resell cloud computing at a more affordable rate. I realize I'm glossing over the technical details, but have run my own linux instances on Linode/TekTonic and they have been generally too much work to set up and too vulnerable to hacking. I'm more interested in thinking about what's possible. I need a preinstalled LAMP server with shell access that can scale indefinitely, starting at ~$10-20/mo. Right now I'm going through a reseller account for $18/mo but sometimes they don't answer their support tickets and I worry about scalability.

[byoung2]

http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/cloud_hosting_products/server...

You can get a 256MB slice with root access for about $11 per month. When you need more, you can scale up to 15.5GB. They have really good support (phone, chat, and email).

[buzzzlight]

Hey thanx for the tip, I did their live chat and their instances come with LAMP already set up and can use webmin/plesk. I've heard good things about them and so far they are living up to their reputation. I would have switched a long time ago but for some reason thought they were a lot more expensive. At the height of our business, we needed 500MB storage and 40 GB transfer per month, which works out to about $19, but only on the heaviest months, so we'll probably save money by switching.