We are living in the age of the customer, consumers want the best products and the fastest technology and they want it now.Companies now compete at a higher level, not just with other companies, but also with rising consumer demands. Companies need to develop for today and not tomorrow, they need to move faster than ever, they need "always-on" software that resides in the Cloud.
But what is the Cloud and how can companies benefit from it?
Cloud computing has been around since the early 2000s, it is the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage and process data, rather than from a local server or personal computer.
Cloud computing alleviates the heavy lifting from an operational standpoint, limiting the amount of work needed for hosting, storing, or processing data, applications, and other IT resources that would traditionally managed on local hardware. Users don’t have to be in a specific location to access the information stored, the internet essentially acts as “the cloud” and can be accessed from anywhere.
The Cloud will play a crucial role in the development of enterprise software and according to research for IDC, building the infrastructure to support cloud computing now accounts for more than a third of all IT spending worldwide
Different Types of Cloud Computing
There are three specific models for Cloud Computing: SaaS, IaaS and PaaS
- SaaS: Internet access to third-party software on a subscription basis.
- IaaS: Pay-as-you-go access to storage, networking and computing resources.
- PaaS: A cloud-based platform used to build, test and deliver applications.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is the delivery of applications-as-a-service, it’s the most common version of cloud computing, and people use them without even knowing. Software vendors host and maintain the servers, databases, and code that constitute an application. Netflix, Spotify, Dropbox and Slack are common SaaS products, in which the product is then delivered to users over the internet on a subscription basis, giving users the flexibility to not have to worry about upfront installation purchases or ongoing maintenance costs.
SaaS Benefits:
- Zero installation and maintenance costs: the SaaS provider takes care of the heavy-lifting so you can focus on running your core business.
- Pay-per-use pricing: SaaS platforms scale up and down automatically depending on usage and usually involve a per-user pricing model.
- Web accessibility: you don’t need to download SaaS services to client devices. Access application any time through a secure web connection.
- Enterprise-grade software: SaaS makes it easier to deploy cutting-edge technology without the deployment and management overheads seen on-premises.
- Remote access: with the right SaaS provider you can mobilise your workforce and offer a secure service across any device.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) refers to the fundamental building blocks of computing that can be rented: physical or virtual servers, storage and networking. This is attractive to companies that want to build applications from the very ground up and want to control nearly all of the IT elements. But this model does require firms to have the technical skills to be able to orchestrate and deploy services at that level.
Much like SaaS, IaaS solutions are accessed over the internet from a cloud provider’s data centre. The chosen provider is responsible for the management and maintenance of traditional on-premises hardware (such as servers, storage and networking) and the virtualization or hypervisor layer. Organizations use IaaS solutions to spin up virtual machines, install operating systems, deploy middleware and create storage buckets and backups for workloads.
IaaS provides key infrastructure services including: load balancing, disaster recovery, security and network monitoring.
IaaS benefits Include:
- Eliminating the upfront cost of managing and setting up an on-site data centre
- Maintaining direct access to servers and complete control of your data
- Improving business continuity and disaster recovery
- Deploying new infrastructure in minutes and rapidly test new ideas
- Responding quickly to evolving business demands with cloud elasticity
- Using service agreements to ensure better data security than in-house servers
Oracle survey of 1,600 senior IT professionals explores the benefits and misconceptions surrounding IaaS adoption. They found that two thirds of IaaS users said using online infrastructure makes it easier to innovate, reduced IT spend and had cut their time to deploy new applications and services.
The worldwide public cloud services market is projected to grow 21.4 percent in 2018 to total $186.4 billion, up from $153.5 billion in 2017, according to Gartner, Inc.
There are a number of IaaS providers in the cloud computing market, but the the most notable are:
- Microsoft Azure
- Amazon Web Services
- Google Cloud
All-in-all, IaaS introduced a level of automation and orchestration to infrastructure tasks, making it easier to build, deploy and maintain application availability and performance. IaaS allows your IT team to focus on your core business rather than most of the underlying infrastructure.
IaaS has many benefits, but there are still issues with such as scalability, security, development and velocity.
Half of those surveyed by Oracle said IaaS isn't secure enough for most critical data, which leads us to our next option PaaS.
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
PaaS (or platform-as-a-service) is a managed development and deployment environment in the cloud.
In this model, a service provider delivers a platform (PaaS) that sits ontop of IaaS solutions.It enables companies with the ability to develop, run, and manage business applications with an even higher level of abstraction and a greater degree of operational automation.
Using the inherent elasticity of the cloud, PaaS solutions provide a scalable framework for developers to host and customize key services. Built-in features such as analytics and business intelligence help improve the functionality of these services, without the need to write huge amounts of code.
As with IaaS, your chosen cloud provider delivers the underlying data centre infrastructure in a PaaS solution.
On top of this, they also run and manage:
- The middleware
- Development tools
- Database management systems
- Business intelligence services
In short, you manage the applications and services you develop, while the PaaS provider deals with the rest. Because of this, PaaS gives companies a competitive edge, it enables their development and operations teams with the ability to spend more time writing code and less time on administrative development.
More time spent on value-added code = more time spent developing business critical applications = more customer facing development = more revenue for the business
PaaS benefits
As well as offering the same fundamental benefits as IaaS, cloud PaaS further simplifies the development process.
- Lower software maintenance costs – PaaS operates on a pay-per-use model, meaning you can eliminate the cost of software licensing, yearly maintenance fees, patching and updates.
- Reduced coding time – application components (such as security, directory and search) come pre-coded and built into the platform.
- Multi-platform development – PaaS speeds up the time to market for cross-platform applications, enabling a consistent experience across desktop, web browser and mobile.
- Geographical support – internet access allows remote teams to work on the same project regardless of location.
- Efficient lifecycle management – build, test, deploy, manage and update web applications in the same integrated environment.
IaaS vs PaaS
In my opinion, a lift and shift to the Cloud isn’t the right choice for large scale organization and we are no longer in an era ruled by IaaS solutions like GCP, AWS and Azure. In the past year each IaaS has faced several downtimes (Iphone X launch, Prime Day, Black Friday) and security breaches (Equifax hack, Interac hack) resulting in the loss of billions.
It's crazy to see that even Amazon during Prime Day, couldn't scale quickly enough to support the incoming traffic. I think this support the trend that IaaS solutions are no longer enough to support enterprise business at scale.
Massive organizations like Comcast, US Air Force, Liberty Mutual, JP Morgan Chase, Scotiabank and T-Mobile are utilizing Pivotal Cloud Foundry.
When the Iphone-X launched, T-Mobile was the only company to stay 100% operational, even Apples website hit downtime.
IaaS solutions are a key ingredient, but running a PaaS solution gives companies a number of competitive advantages.
Enterprises need a multi-cloud strategy and they need an additional layer of abstraction if they want to keep up with market changes and consumer demands.PaaS solutions like Pivotal Cloud Foundry provide these massive enterprises with the power to increase developer velocity, scale on demand and it adds an additional layer of security.
Businesses are changing the world with software. Yet the continued disruption of traditional models is only possible when the right teams have the appropriate processes and technology solutions to make the impossible, possible.
Thanks for reading.
If you’d like to see the total economic impact of Pivotal Cloud Foundry see Forrester’s recent report:
FAQs
What is IaaS PaaS and SaaS in cloud computing? ›
There are 3 main types of cloud computing as-a-service options and each one covers a degree of management for you: infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and software-as-a-service (SaaS).
What are the main cloud computing service models choose 3 answers? ›There are three major cloud service models: software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS). Cloud service pricing models are categorized into pay per use, subscription-based and hybrid, which is a combination of pay-per-use and subscription pricing models.
What is example of SaaS and PaaS and IaaS? ›| Platform | Examples |
|---|---|
| PaaS | AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Google App Engine, and Adobe Commerce |
| SaaS | Gmail, Slack, and Microsoft Office 365 |
| IaaS | Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Compute Engine |
These apps are accessed through an internet connection rather than installed on our hard drives or devices. Today, cloud technology means that companies can scale and adapt at speed and scale, accelerate innovation, drive business agility, streamline operations, and reduce costs.
What are the 3 types of cloud computing? ›- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) ...
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) ...
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
SaaS provides software in addition to PaaS. PaaS provides a platform in addition to IaaS. IaaS provides infrastructure such as servers. DaaS provides a virtual desktop environment.
What are three 3 key aspects of cloud computing? ›Well, there are 3 types of cloud computing: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). With IaaS, companies control their own computing, networking, and storing components without having to manage them on-premises physically.
What are the 3 basic components of cloud computing? ›Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the internet. These services are divided into three main categories or types of cloud computing: infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS).
What are the 3 types of cloud computing PDF? ›Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software as a Service (SaaS)
What is SaaS PaaS IaaS in simple terms? ›These services fall into three categories: IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service), PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service). Each term refers to a resource made available to users as an on-demand model. This means users do not need to invest heavily in infrastructure to host and use their services.
What is a good example of PaaS? ›
Popular examples of PaaS include: AWS Elastic Beanstalk. Windows Azure. Heroku.
What is PaaS in service now? ›Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) is a cloud computing model that supports the building, testing, deploying, and managing of web applications.
What is the latest trend in cloud computing? ›Internet of Things. IoT is one of the most well-known next trends in cloud computing. It is a technology that maintains connections between computers, servers, and networks. IoT functions as a mediator, ensuring successful communication and assisting in data collection from remote devices for efficient operations.
What is the impact of cloud computing in today's modern world? ›Easy Access
Cloud computing also allows for quick data access, processes, and critical business applications from any place with a reliable Internet connection across the world. Businesses no longer need to bring a tablet or laptop with a comprehensive set of business software and specialized apps.
- Faster time to market. You can spin up new instances or retire them in seconds, allowing developers to accelerate development with quick deployments. ...
- Scalability and flexibility. ...
- Cost savings. ...
- Better collaboration. ...
- Advanced security. ...
- Data loss prevention.
AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a comprehensive, evolving cloud computing platform provided by Amazon that includes a mixture of infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and packaged-software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings.
What are the 5 layers of cloud computing? ›As depicted in Figure 3, the five layers proposed in the paper are Cloud Application Layer, Cloud Software Environment Layer, Cloud Software Infrastructure Layer, Software Kernel, and Hardware and Firmware, with three constituent parts for the Cloud Infrastructure Layer such as Computational Resources, Storage, and ...
What are the main differences between SaaS and PaaS? ›Using a PaaS solution means that while developers can build and run their own solutions, their data is still secured on a third-party controlled server. Using a SaaS solution means that the third-party vendor will manage the application for you.
What is the use of IaaS PaaS SaaS? ›IAAS gives access to the resources like virtual machines and virtual storage. PAAS gives access to run time environment to deployment and development tools for application. SAAS gives access to the end user. It is a service model that provides virtualized computing resources over the internet.
What is SaaS and examples? ›SaaS uses the Internet to deliver subscription software services, which are managed by a third-party vendor. Well-known SaaS examples include Dropbox, Google Workspace, and Salesforce. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offers access to resources such as servers, storage, memory, and other services.
What are the 3 main phases to a cloud migration? ›
The following sections discuss each phase in detail: Phase 1: Prepare. Phase 2: Plan. Phase 3: Migrate.
What are the 3 main characteristics used to identify cloud types? ›Clouds are typically sorted and identified by characteristics such as their height in the sky, texture, and the type of “weather” they do or do not produce.
What are the 3 purposes of clouds? ›No matter what shape or size they are, clouds are essential to life on Earth. During the day they help protect us from the sun's intense heat. At night they act as a blanket to keep us from getting too cold. They also provide precipitation and signal weather changes and patterns.
What are the three stages of computing? ›The three stages of computing are input, processing and output. A computer works through these stages by 'running' a program.
What are the basics of cloud computing? ›Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.
What is core of cloud computing? ›The four basic components of cloud computing are infrastructure service (IaaS), software service (SaaS), platform service (PaaS) and business process services (BaaS). The core elements of cloud computing are data, network, hardware and software.
What are the 2 working models for cloud computing? ›- Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
- Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and.
- Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
...
Four Types of Cloud Computing
- Private Clouds. ...
- Public Clouds. ...
- Hybrid Clouds. ...
- Multi-Clouds.
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is a type of cloud computing service that offers essential compute, storage, and networking resources on demand, on a pay-as-you-go basis. IaaS is one of the four types of cloud services, along with software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and serverless.
What is PaaS in cloud computing in simple terms? ›Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a complete cloud environment that includes everything developers need to build, run, and manage applications—from servers and operating systems to all the networking, storage, middleware, tools, and more.
What is PaaS and its benefits? ›
Platform as a Service (PaaS) Defined
PaaS solutions can be used to develop software for internal use or offered for sale. PaaS technology offers a company virtual infrastructure, such as data centers, servers, storage and network equipment, plus an intermediate layer of software, which includes tools for building apps.
1. Amazon Web Services (AWS) The first example of a PaaS company is Amazon Web Services — a popular PaaS company offering a wide range of cloud services. AWS is a cloud-based program that helps businesses build solutions through integrated web services.
What are the benefits of using PaaS? ›One of the major benefits of platform as a service (PaaS) is its ability to improve a developer's productivity. PaaS provides direct support for business agility by enabling rapid development with faster and more frequent delivery of functionality.
How many types of PaaS is there? ›Public, private, or hybrid—explaining the 3 main types of PaaS.
What is main purpose of ServiceNow? ›Automate and optimize technology service operations
Reimagine always-on technology services. Automate service operations to enhance productivity and give employees a superior work experience.
Another cloud computing trend in 2022 was the evolution of open source cloud infrastructure technologies. The Apache CloudStack platform released its 4.17 update in June, providing users including the government of India with more capabilities to manage their own cloud services.
What are the recent trends in computing in details? ›The latest computer science trends include artificial intelligence, edge computing, and quantum computing. IT professionals are also knowledgeable about developments in robotics and cybersecurity.
What is the growth of cloud computing 2022? ›In 2022, the global public cloud services market is expected to grow by approximately 18.8 percent, which amounts to about 490 billion U.S. dollars.
How will cloud computing change the future? ›With cloud computing, businesses can now access powerful computer resources without having to invest in their own hardware. This has given them a major competitive advantage, as they can scale up their operations quickly and easily without having to make a large upfront investment.
How cloud computing is changing the way we work and live? ›Through the Cloud, employees can now access company files and documents that they would traditionally have to go to the office to get. Essentially, cloud computing means that your office can be anywhere there is internet connection, which these days, is most places—at home, on the road, in the nearest Starbucks.
How cloud computing has changed technology? ›
The service allows users to access files and programs stored in the cloud from anywhere, eliminating the need to be near physical hardware at all times. Because the material is stored on a network of hosted computers that transport data over the internet, cloud computing makes the papers accessible from anywhere.
What is IaaS SaaS PaaS AWS? ›Cloud computing service models come in three broad categories: Software as a Service (SaaS) Platform as a Service (PaaS) Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
What are examples of IaaS? ›- DigitalOcean.
- Linode.
- Rackspace.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Cisco Metacloud.
- Microsoft Azure.
- Google Compute Engine (GCE)
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is a type of cloud computing service that offers essential compute, storage, and networking resources on demand, on a pay-as-you-go basis. IaaS is one of the four types of cloud services, along with software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and serverless.
What is PaaS in cloud computing? ›Platform as a Service defined
Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a complete cloud environment that includes everything developers need to build, run, and manage applications—from servers and operating systems to all the networking, storage, middleware, tools, and more.