Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computing resources (such as storage and infrastructure), as services over the internet. It eliminates the need for individuals and businesses to self-manage physical resources themselves, and only pay for what they use.
Moving to the cloud helps companies optimize IT costs. This is because cloud computing eliminates the capital expense of buying hardware and software and setting up and running onsite datacenters—the racks of servers, the round-the-clock electricity for power and cooling, and the IT experts for managing the infrastructure. It adds up fast.
There are three main types of cloud computing service models that you can select based on the level of control, flexibility, and management your business needs:
Platform as a Service
Platform as a service (PaaS) offers all the hardware and software resources needed for cloud application development. With PaaS, companies can focus fully on application development without the burden of managing and maintaining the underlying infrastructure
Software as a service
Software as a service (SaaS) delivers a full application stack as a service, from underlying infrastructure to maintenance and updates to the app software itself. A SaaS solution is often an end-user application, where both the service and the infrastructure is managed and maintained by the cloud service provider.
Infrastructure as a Service
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offers on-demand access to IT infrastructure services, including compute, storage, networking, and virtualization. It provides the highest level of control over your IT resources and most closely resembles traditional on-premises IT resources.