IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS Review

Cloud Computing

This IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS review will not only discuss the differences between these three main cloud based models, but will also cover the overall benefits of cloud services in general.

Cloud computing enables the shift of your business data and compute power to hosted servers and applications located in one or more managed data centre. Cost reductions, resiliency, and agility are just a handful of the benefits of cloud computing.

IaaS, PaaS and SaaS overview

IaaS, PaaS and SaaS are the three main cloud computing models available. They are supplied and maintained by a provider who is responsible for the platform and service.

Because each model progressively builds on top of the previous, you can scale from IaaS all the way to SaaS without the need to go back to the design drawing board.

Each model will have a specific service level agreement (SLA) to establish availability, performance, security and data privacy guarantees that your provider will agree to honor.

Benefits of Cloud Services

Lets discuss the overall benefits of cloud based services compared to traditional local or data centre designs and then move onto the IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS differences.

IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS Review

We will now provide an IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS review to help you identify the most suitable cloud service design model for your current requirements. An additional advantage of these services is their flexibility to allow you to move between one model to the other without a major headache.

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

The Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) based model migrates the network hardware, servers, storage and virtualization to the cloud.

Your provider supplies and manages the network platform, server hardware, and server virtualisation. You are only responsible for managing the server applications and the servers operating system.

IaaS ensures you can scale up (or down) your network server estate without the huge cost associated with building your own server platform.

2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)

PaaS is the next logical step from IaaS. Here your provider also supplies and manages the virtual server’s operating systems and back-end services.

This model is well placed for application development so you can focus on the application rather than getting involved with server support, operation system issues, backup schedules, etc.

Your responsibility lies with the application and user data only.

3. Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS is the final piece of this 3-piece jigsaw. Your provider manages the entire system (including the main data application). No need to spend time supporting and maintaining network hardware, servers, virtualisation, applications, backups, etc.

All applications are supported and maintained by your provider although you are able to customise the application to suit your precise needs.

Conclusion

IaaS, PaaS and SaaS all offer a multitude of unique benefits and features for businesses wishing to reduce cost of network ownership and increase network performance, scalability and agility. If you are looking for additional compute power, storage, application hosting on a fully managed network then there is a cloud solution for you.

Please get in touch to discuss your cloud computing requirements further. We offer a completely free consultation with one of our technology experts to fully go over your precise needs.

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