Shame it is running ms sql. anything Postgress, oracle or db2 and it might have been a candidate for running on a IBM Linuxone might even be a valid contender for the cost it is currently running at.
I also think most cloud providers are at least a vendor lock-in and maybe a proprietary nightmare. This way you at least got your own iron and ibm comes to fix parts when they break. (Without disabling your system)
I do agree it is debatable whether it is beter than x86 most of the time cost savings projected when using a LinuxOne it is based on licensing. In the past oracle licenses where per core and we did a project where 8 ifl’s replaced 140 x86 cores
I worked on multiple LinuxOne systems. You can run z/vm and pr/sm. it will also run kvm if you like.
Power consumption (of our box z13 based)is 3kwh regardless of configuration (give or take) but also consider you need a lot less san switches and networking switches to achieve the same goal as a large rack of individual servers
It was my first job out of university. I will never forget the awesome experience of walking into the datacenter and start plugging cables and stuff