In this last of our three-series blogs on cloud computing, we shall explore the top five cloud computing services that have transformed how organizations procure and manage infrastructure and platforms. How they offer a significant shift in the way organizations think and leverage IT resources.

Cloud Computing Based on Computing Services Model

Moving on from the type of deployments that cloud computing can provide, let’s now explore the type of cloud services one can leverage to enhance business operations. How cloud computing services disrupt public and private institutions’ use of information technology. Organizations typically pay only for the cloud services they use on-demand, helping them bring down operating costs while also enabling more efficient usage of the infrastructure. Provided via the internet rather than the company’s servers, these allow the delivery of servers, storage, and backup online and can dynamically scale up based on the users’ needs. Managed by cloud service providers, these are broadly classified into five types. These services are also called cloud computing stacks, as one is built on top of the other. Let’s look at them in detail.

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Also called Hardware as a Service (HaaS), IaaS provides on-demand access to fundamental computing resources like processing power, networking, and data storage capacity provided and maintained by the cloud service provider over the internet. It helps users run computing power or virtual machines (VM) without labor and capital-intensive hardware investments or server management on a pay-as-you-go model. It also enables end-users to scale up/down resources as per requirement, doing away with the need for high, upfront CaPex on on-premise infrastructure and other resources to factor in periodic spikes in usage.

Most IaaS packages include servers, networking, storage, and virtualization elements, while the users must install and maintain databases, OS, applications, and security elements. IaaS gives the users with the lowest-level control of computing resources in the cloud compared to SaaS and PaaS (including the newest PaaS models like containers

and serverless). While it still stays popular for many kinds of workloads, SaaS and Paas are growing at a much faster rate today.

2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)

An advanced version of IaaS, PaaS also provides the computing platform and solution stack as a service with the IT infrastructure. It provides a highly versatile demand-based environment for developing, testing, delivering, and managing software applications. PaaS is designed to make it convenient for developers to build mobile and web apps. It eliminates the need to set up or manage the servers, networks, and databases required for the development.

One of the most complex cloud services, many components are incorporated with the organization’s existing infrastructure using PaaS. It provides database management systems and supports multiple programming languages and frameworks to auto-scale. It integrates easily with web services and databases, making it accessible to various users through the same development application. Today PaaS is often built around a virtualized compute model, containers, one step away from virtual machines. Containers virtualize the OS, and it enables the developers to package the application with only the OS services it needs to run on any platform without any alterations and any need for middleware.

3. Software as a Service (SaaS)

Also known as on-demand software, software as a service incorporates both IaaS and PaaS models. It provides application-level services customized to diverse business needs like business analytics, marketing automation, and CRM. It delivers software applications over the internet on a subscription and demand basis. Third-party cloud providers own and maintain the software application and any infrastructure required and handle issues like security patching and software updates.

Leveraging SaaS, software distributed is centrally hosted, and licensed and a single copy of an application is created by the service provider and shared with all the users. The users can add new features or functions based on their use and agreement with the service provider. Users connect to the application via the internet, usually through a web

browser-based application, with easy integration of APIs with the company’s in-house tools. Accessible via any internet-enabled device, SaaS ensures cross-device compatibility and allows cloud providers to host and manage the software application and incumbent infrastructure while handling all maintenance needs. Rapidly emerging as the primary delivery model for most commercial software today, in addition to the cost savings, time-to-value and scalability, SaaS also offers automatic updates and protection from data loss.

4. Network as a Service (NaaS)

NaaS is ideal for users who do not want to use their networks and outsource their entire network infrastructure requirements to the cloud service providers. Network virtualization is done in this service, with connectivity and bandwidth being provided for the contracted period.

5. Serverless Computing

Serverless computing is the new-kid-on-the-block in the world of cloud computing services and is proving to be a gamechanger for many businesses. Sharing some features with PaaS, this computing concept helps developers build app functionality rather than manage the servers and infrastructures. The cloud provider manages the user’s set-up, capacity planning, and server management. Highly scalable and event-oriented serverless architectures only use resources when a specific function or trigger happens.

Serverless runs application code on a per-request basis only, automatically scaling the supporting infrastructure in response to the volume of requests. One only pays for the resources used when the application is running, never for idling.

To Sum Up

Every business can benefit from one or more cloud computing services as they help improve efficiency while cutting down costs. Offering a big shift in the way businesses think and leverage IT resources, users can adopt one or more cloud services depending on their specific requirements, business type, processes, expertise, and other priorities.

The Amantya Factor

At Amantya Technologies, we align your infrastructure with your business goals to provide you with better control, helping you reinvent at scale and infusing agility for business transformation. Whether you plan to adopt new cloud integration or existing data migration, our experts help you determine the right cloud strategy and roadmap. With remote support and centralized management, you can make informed business decisions while ensuring maximum uptime of your business availability via cloud-managed services.

Interested to know about our cloud computing services and how we can help you transition to a high-performance cloud-based solution? Do get in touch. Our digital team would be happy to assist you