Cloud Computing Services Models – SaaS, PaaS, IaaS Explained

The advancement of technology and encompassing networks, storage, and processing power led to the epitome of computing. It is called cloud computing, commonly referred to as the cloud. So, what is cloud computing, and why you need it to help your organization flourish? Cloud computing is a paradigm that allows on-demand network access to shared computing resources. A model for managing, storing, and processing data online via the internet. Some cloud computing characteristics include:   

• On-demand service – you use it when you need it,  
• Network access – using the internet as a medium,  
• Shared resources – resources are pooled together and used by multiple clients,  
• Scalability – allows elasticity of resources.  

  Cloud computing offers different services based on three delivery models:  

• SaaS – Software as a Service – this service, unlike licensed-bought programs, offers on-demand pay per use of application software to users. It is completely platform-independent, meaning there’s no need to install the software on your PC. The cloud runs a single instance of the software and makes it available for multiple end-users. All the computing resources responsible for delivering SaaS are entirely managed by the vendor. This service is accessible via a web browser or lightweight client applications.   
• PaaS – Platform as a Service – this service is mainly a development environment, comprising of a programming language execution environment, an operating system, a web server, and a database. With this service end-users can build, compile and run their programs without worrying about the infrastructure. In this model, you manage data and the application resources, while the vendor manages all other resources.      
• IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service – this service offers computing architecture and infrastructure; that is, it provides all computing resources, such as data storage, virtualization, servers, and networing, in a virtual environment so that multiple end-users can access them. In this model the above mentioned four resources are usually managed by the vendors and you are responsible for handling other resources such as applications, data, runtime, and middleware.