Demystifying IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS: A Beginner's Handbook

SaaS: Software as a Service

The cloud application service or Software as a service (SaaS) forms the largest cloud market and is growing at a rapid pace to keep up with the demand. SaaS allows the end uses to access the services through the Web and interacts with the customers through an interface. The fact that most of the applications can be accessed through a web browser makes SaaS so much more popular. With SaaS, you don’t need to worry about installing or downloading although some applications might require a plug-in.

Enterprises find it easy to streamline their maintenance and support with SaaS, as vendors can manage all the information and support and ensure that the functioning of the application is smooth. Several applications hosted as SaaS are quite popular in sectors relating to health care, email and collaboration, etc.

Some big companies that are not traditionally known to be software vendors have started building SaaS as an additional source of revenue to gain a competitive advantage. To keep up with the market and gain massive traction, enterprises are now embracing SaaS to generate additional revenue, even though the enterprises were not primarily operating as software vendors.

 PaaS: Platform as a Service

PaaS is a framework most preferred by developers as they can customize and develop applications. The Platform as a Service (PaaS) or the Cloud Platform Service is quite popular, and it is used to develop applications and provide cloud components to software. By opting to work with the cloud-based platform, a lot of logistic issues are taken care of—the development, testing of the applications, and deployment are quite quick, easy, and cost-effective.

The enterprise PaaS allows efficient maneuvering and helps manage the computing infrastructure from a centralized IT center with the help of the platforms that are present on the hardware.

You can effectively create customized applications through the software components that are inbuilt into PaaS. The applications that use PaaS inherit the characteristics that are unique to the cloud infrastructure. For instance, the applications will show prominent cloud features like multi-tenancy, PaaS enablement, scalability, etc. The benefits that PaaS offers to enterprises are many—it provides a huge respite from extensive coding, allows to automate business policies, and enables the easy transition of apps to hybrid models.

IaaS: Infrastructure as a service

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is a self-service model built specifically to provide Cloud Infrastructure Services to help with accessing, monitoring, and managing remote data centre infrastructures. IaaS assists with essential infrastructure-related functionalities like storage, establishing effective firewalls, networking, etc.

One important differentiator is the fact that with IaaS, the users drive and manage the applications and software. The service providers handle the intricate details revolving around the servers, storage, networking, and virtualization. Additionally, several IaaS providers offer services related to providing messaging queues and databases. Users of IaaS specifically gain the advantage of having the ability to install any platform over the infrastructure. However with IaaS, users need to take care of updating the software if new updated versions of the software are released.

Cloud computing preferred by enterprises.

Instead of investing in the entire hardware, the facility can be used ad hoc, and the users can now pay for the services per usage. This concept works in favour of the enterprises, and it's beneficial as well because it is cost efficient, and the services can be procured only when needed. Cloud Computing has several advantages and is trusted by leading established enterprises. With this sector witnessing massive improvement and evolution, new and enhanced features of cloud computing are bound to attract a huge clientele in the coming years.