What is IaaS?

IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS are three of the services provided by most cloud companies. But what exactly are they? We have already covered about PaaS and SaaS in previous articles. Also, we had covered what makes each services different. But this time, we are going to go slightly more in-depth to one of the more basic services – IaaS.

IaaS, or known as Infrastructure as a Service, is the most basic out of the three. It provides the infrastructure needed to run your cloud services, but not to the extent that everything is covered by it. They usually provide infrastructures such as the servers, storage, networking hardware, and the virtualization/hypervisor layer.

Also, they will help you to monitor and secure the data that is being stored in their infrastructure. These are only a few of many services it will usually include.

It usually comes in a pay-per-use model. This allows customers to only pay for the amount they are using. Small and medium businesses alike will benefit from this the most. They might not have the massive budget required for a full set of service. 

IaaS is also suited for companies that wanted to test out the cloud services. Why? Because of its pay model, you can flexibly test the system and decide if you want to permanently adopt it. If you don’t then you can terminate it with no hassle.  

A quick look at the services provided in an IaaS package

Servers

IaaS services provide the servers needed to run your cloud services. Instead of having it in your own data center. You can have one managed by professional cloud companies at their center, equipped with all the latest high-end technology they provide. 

Storage

What is the cloud without storage? Nothing. It is no surprise that it provides storage space for you to run your cloud systems. 

Networking

Every basic cloud service requires networking to run. It is an essential so IaaS has to provide them for the service to run

Virtualization

Virtualization creates a virtual platform of server operating system and storage devices. It makes IT services much more scalable, economical and efficient. Another core component of cloud services. 

As you can tell by the trend, IaaS provides all the key components to run your IT systems, but it ends there. Anything else and you might have to consider PaaS or SaaS. 

In Conclusion

In conclusion, IaaS is good for small to medium businesses that are looking to expand into the cloud. It provides a cheap and flexible way to begin implementing a cloud system. If you ever feel like stopping, you can do so easily. If you feel like upgrading it, there is always PaaS and SaaS.