[staunch]

Funny, this is exactly the problem I'm working on with my new project, that I just started rolling out this week (shameless plug): https://uptano.com

I've created setups like yours a bunch of times (anywhere from 10-1000 servers) and always check EC2 to see if it's a viable alternative. The messy details of proper facilities management get old real quick. But, as you say, the math just doesn't work.

With existing companies you end up paying huge premiums to rent virtual instances on heavily shared hardware. You're giving up a proper network (with internal and external connections) and persistent high performance disk I/O. It's just not a great deal.

I'm trying to get it much closer to the pricing of doing it yourself, while keeping the convenience of not having to actually do it all yourself.

Would love to get some feedback from you, if you're willing. No email in your profile. Mine is [e-mail].