IaaS vs. PaaS vs. SaaS: Common Examples of Each - Josh ...

IaaS, Paas, and SaaS are acronyms for three of the main branches of cloud computing. They stand for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform ... JoshFechterBlogBusinessEducationBusinessSoftwareBusinessGrowthBusinessProductBusinessWritingBusinessTalentAboutBookaStrategySessionIaaSvs.PaaSvs.SaaS:CommonExamplesofEachJoshFechterUpdatedonDecember22nd,2021Today,theIaaSvsPaaSvsSaaSdebateismorerelevantthaneverinmoderntechnologycompanies. Withgoodreason.Afterall,theseservicesdomakeupasectorofcloudtechnologythathasgainedincreasedinterestamongsmalltoglobalenterprisesalike. Thestatsdon’tlie. Ina2019newsreport,GartnerIncstatedthatabusinessthatdoesn'tleveragethepowerofcloudtechnologyintheiroperationsisunheardof. What’smore,inthesamereport,Gartnerclaimedthattherewasanear20%growthincloudservicesmarketingbetween2018to2019,withexponentialgrowthforecastforthefuture.Duetothequickpaceatwhichthesesoftwarehavetakentheworld,businessleadersarechallengedtokeepup.Thisblogpostshedslightonwhatdifferentiateseachofthesecloudsoftwareservicesfromtheotheraswellasafewexamplesofeachone. Learnhowyoucanpropelyourbusiness’sgrowthwithoneofthesesoftwareservices. IaaSvsPaaSvsSaaS:WhatTheyAreIaaS,Paas,andSaaSareacronymsforthreeofthemainbranchesofcloudcomputing. TheystandforInfrastructureasaService(IaaS),PlatformasaService(PaaS)andSoftwareasaService(SaaS). Cloudcomputingistheabilitytoaccessandusecomputersystemresourcesbywayofremoteserversasopposedtolocalonesorpersonalcomputers. Theseresourcesincludedatastorageandrecovery,software,analytics,databases,andnetworks. Unliketraditionalcomputing,cloudcomputingfacilitatesaccesstoservicesthroughtheinternet. Althoughallthreefallunderthebroadumbrellatermofcloudcomputing,therearedifferencesbetweenthem. IaaSreferstothesectorthatenablesthefundamentalfunctioningofstorage,network,andcomputationalresourcesviatheinternet. Ontheotherhand,PaaSisadeploymentservicemodelthatdeliverssoftwareandhardwaretoolsneededtorunanddevelopapplications. Likewise,SoftwareasaServiceisdifferentinthatitspeakstotheaccessingofsoftwareviatheinternet. Havingpresentedthebasicsofthesethreetypesofcloudcomputing,let’sexaminewhateachonedoesingreaterdetailaswellastheirfeatures. UnderstandingIaaSvsPaaSvsSaaSEachofthecloudcomputingserviceslistedaboveoperateintheirownwaywithfeaturesthatareuniquetothem. ImageretrievedfromBMC.comIaaS:HowItWorks Infrastructureasaserviceenablesonetoconstructandcontroltheirownservers,datastoragefacilities,networks,andoperatingsystems. Thisway,anIaaSuserbypassestheneedtocontractphysicaldatacenterstoruntheircomputers.Instead,acloudserveractsasahostthroughwhichaclientcanaccesstheirserviceeitherthroughadashboardoranapplicationprogramminginterface(API). Inadditiontothefundamentalcomponentsneededtorunacomputer,anIaaSprovideralsoincludesahostofcomplimentaryservicesthatenhancethepackage. Althoughthesewillvarybasedontheprovider,someofthemorestandardonesare: Storageresiliency(recoverymodes,backups,anddatareplication)LogaccessMonthlybillingreportsLoadbalancingandclusteringMonitoringAutomationandorchestrationIaaSenablescompaniestogrowandscaletheirdatawithouttheneedtohousedatastoringequipmentinaphysicalspace. ExamplesofIaaSCompaniesLet’stakealookatsomeofthemostinnovativecompaniesthatofferIaaS:MicrosoftAzureMicrosoftAzureisanIaaSproductandcloudcomputingplatformthatmakesitpossibleforcustomerstocreate,manage,andtestapplicationsviaacloudhost. Microsoftisthecompanythatoverseesthiscloudserviceanditsdevelopment. Consequently,thisIaaSproductreliesonglobalnetworksanddatacentersownedandrunbyMicrosoft. Therefore,itgoeswithoutsayingthattheserviceisattractivebecauseofitscompatibilitywithMicrosoftdevices. However,theservicehasbeencriticizedbysomeforhavinganaverageperformancethatdoesn’tmatchthehighcostoftheservice. DigitalOceanDigitalOceanisanotherIaaScompanythatofferscloudhostingservicestobusinesseslookingtoscaletheirdataintheclouds. BrothersBenandMoiseyUretskyarethefoundersofDigitalOcean.Atthetimeofwritingthis,thecompanyhadbeeninexistencefornearlynine(9)years. ThebrothershaveledtheirteamofmarketersanddeveloperstoestablishthecompanyasoneoftheleadingIaaSserviceproviderstoday. Indoingso,theyhaveestablishedpartnershipswithmajorbrandssuchasSlack,Gitlab,andHashicorp.Astheirtechnologiescontinuetodevelop,DigitalOceanhopestoexpandandimprovetheireffortsincloudservicestobetterservetheirclientele. AmazonWebServices(AWS)AmazonWebServicesisanAmazoncloudcomputingservicethatoffersavarietyofproductsthatpropeldatamanagementstrategies. Thecompanyoffersover175digitalproductsacrosscategoriessuchasblockchain,applicationintegration,quantumtechnologies,andendusercomputing.Sincetheirlaunch,governmentagencies,startups,andglobalenterpriseshaveusedAWStohandletheircomputationalinfrastructureintheclouds. UnderAmazon’sleadership,AWSwillstrivetoremainrelevantinIaaSdevelopmentintheyearstocome. PaaS:HowItWorksPlatformasaservice,asaGooglecloudmodelthatleaseshardandsoftwaretools,providesonewithacloudplatformtodevelopandcreatesoftware. Forthatreason,softwaredeveloperstendtobethetargetaudiencetowhomPaaScompaniesmarket. Theseproductsmakeiteasierfordeveloperstoconstructcustomapplicationssincetheydon’thavetooutsourcefordatastorageandmanagement. Thatsaid,it’simportanttomentionthatPaaSdoesnotreplaceanexistingITinfrastructure.Instead,itmergesitselfwithelementsthatconstituteunderlyingcloudinfrastructure(suchasservers,operatingsystems,anddatabases). JustlikeIaaS,PaaSoffersadditionalservicesthatcomplementthestandardonesforwhichtheyweremade: DatabaseintegrationDevelopmentteamcollaborationApplicationdesign,testing,anddevelopmentWebintegrationInformationsecurityExamplesofPAASCompaniesApartfromMicrosoftAzureandAWSwhichofferPaaSservices,therearesomeothercompaniesthathavemadeanameforthemselvesinthisniche: SalesforceSalesforceisaSanFranciscobasedcloudproviderwhoseservicesextendtoPaaS. Viatheirplatform,developerscancreateaddonapplicationsthatuserscanlaterintegrateintoSaleforce’smainapplication. Toaccomplishthis,thePaaScompanyusesadevelopmentlanguageknownasApexinconjunctionwithaseriesofspecializedtools. Withover20yearsinthebusiness,thecompanyhasparticipatedinthedevelopmentandgrowthoftheindustryasnewandimprovedsolutionscomeabout. SoftwareAGSoftwareAGhasbeendevelopingsoftwaretotransformcompanies’digitalpresenceforover50years. Therefore,itwasonlynaturalforthemtoturntocloudservicesasameansofhelpingbusinessestousetechnologyforwhatitsworth. BeingoneofthepioneersinPaaSdevelopment,thecompanyhasremodeleditsplatformbyaddingnewtoolsthatsatisfythecurrentneedsofdevelopers. IBMCloudOriginallycalledIBMBluemix,IBMCloudisaPaaSthatIBMownsanddevelops. TheplatformisbasedonapubliccloudappknownasCloudFoundry. What’smore,itworkswithseverallanguages,includingPython,RubyonRails,andPHP. Mostotherlanguagescanbeaddedthroughextensionbuildpacks. ItremainsoneofthemostpopularPaaScompaniestoday. FutureFuel.io FutureFuel.ioisaSaaScompanythatdevelopedandlaunchedanappthatmanagesstudentloanrepayments. FounderandCEO,LaurelTaylor,startedthecompanyasameansoffindingasolutiontothestudentdebtcrisisintheU.S.Now,sheleadsateamthatisdeterminedtolevythebenefitsoftechnologyinthefightagainststudentdebt. Theapplicationallowsonetomakeandmanageone’sstudentloanpayments. Moreover,italsomanagescontributionsthataremadebythirdpartiestowardsaloan.Thismaytaketheformofeitheranemployerpayingstudentloansorafriendlendingahelpinghand.Thecompanyhasitseyessetonclearing$30billionby2021. SaaS:HowItWorksSoftwareasaservicedistributessoftwarehostedbyathirdpartyprovidertoauserviatheinternet.Ausergainsaccesstothissoftwarebysubscribingandpayingtheproviderinaccordancewiththeirpaymentmethods. AninternetconnectionisrequiredinorderforSaasapplicationstowork.Thatway,youdon’thavetodownloadorinstallanyadditionalsoftwareinordertoruntheseGoogleapps. Outofallthreecloudservicesmentioned,SaaSremainsthemostpopularchoiceamongbusinesses. That’sbecauseitssoftwaredevelopmentissuchthatit'seasytoscaleasyourbusinessgrowsandtheyaresimpletouse.Becausethey'resimple,theytendtobecosteffectiveforbusinessessinceyoudon'thavetospendmuchtimetrainingyourstafftousethem.ThereareafewtrademarksaboutSaaSthattheyareknownfor: AreaccessiblewithavalidsubscriptionApplicationsareaccessibleviasmartphonesandotherdevicesDon'trequireanydownloadsorinstallationsEasytoscaleapplicationstosuityourbusiness’sgrowthExamplesofSaaSCompaniesTherearemanySaaScompaniesthathavemadeanameforthemselves,hereareafew: SquiblerSquiblerisanintuitivesoftwareapplicationthatenablescontentcreatorstowritecontentevenfaster. Althoughtheappisgearedtowardscontentcreators,authorsandwriterswhoproducealotofwrittencontentfindtheappusefulinhelpingthemtocompletetheirworkfaster. Amongthefeaturesthattheapphasistheoptiontoseparateroughnotesandnotecardsonasinglescreen. Thatway,byseeingtheirnotesatthesametimewhilewriting,theauthordoesnotwastetimeflippingbetweentheirnotesandtheactualpiecebeingdeveloped. Theappisavailablebywayofsubscriptionandisaccessedviatheinternet. Lumen5Lumen5isanotherSaaSproviderthathastakenadvantageofsoftwaretocreateanapplicationthatcanbeaccessedwithawebbrowser. Thecompany’sappisavideocontentmakerthanconvertscontentintoavideothatcanbeusedformarketingpurposes.WhatseparatesLumen5fromothervideomakersisthespeedwithwhichtheirapplicationconvertstotext. Withinseconds,theappturnstextintoavideoslideshow. Thesoftware,justlikeallothersthatareconsideredSaaS,isaccessibleaslongasyouhaveaninternetconnection. ChoosingIaaSvs.PaaSvsSaaSThereisnofastandsteadyruletodeterminewhichcloudservicereignssupremeintheIaaSvsPaaSvsSaaSdebate. Neitheroneisbetterthantheother:eachhastheirownadvantagesanddisadvantages. Theonethatyouselectwilldependonyourbusinessneeds.Evaluateyourbusiness’sstrategyandactionplananddeterminewhichoftheseserviceswillaidyouthemostingoingforward. MetaDescription:IndustryheadshaveallbeeninvolvedintheIaaSvsPaaSvsSaaSdebate.Findoutmoreaboutwhatthesecloudservicescandoforyou.  JoshFechterJoshFechterisabusinessstrategyconsultantandfounder.He’swrittenseveralworld-recognizedbooksonsoftwareconfiguration,speaksSpanish,ballroomdances,andownsTheProductCompanyandSquibler.ShowRelatedPostsCAREERGUIDESBusinessProductTheBasicsTopSaaSCompaniesandProducts?CommonSoftwareasaService(SaaS)Examples?BestSaaSMetricsforSaaSB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