Everything we consume, from food to books and from entertainment to fitness, is packaged in several different forms. Cloud computing is no different, but over the last few years, there has been a lack of clear understanding in what cloud computing is and its different fundamental forms. There are hundreds of providers who offer cloud computing to fit the needs of business and consumers, but there are three fundamental types of cloud computing - SaaS, PaaS and IaaS. These three foundational elements of cloud computing can be compared to building blocks that layer one on top of the other for Internet-based computing, storage and development.
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) - this "as-a-service" offering is the most popular, as it lends itself to personal use. A common example of SaaS is an online email service. If you have an online email account, such as Yahoo or Gmail, you are already using this form of cloud computing. In these cases, Yahoo or Google host their email servers in a SaaS environment where the user easily accesses it through a browser. Another popular use of SaaS is photo sharing.
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) - allows consumers and businesses to develop and deploy applications in virtualized environments, while helping decrease investments in onsite hardware. Unlike SaaS, PaaS gives the business or user a set of tools to build applications on the platform and control the applications without the complexity of managing the infrastructure. Two of the most popular PaaS providers are Google Apps and Engine Yard.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) -refers to the outsourcing of the IT infrastructure to a service provider. Through IaaS, the business controls the software environment and is free from investing in hardware and the environment around it. Instead of buying physical servers, businesses access virtual machines through their IaaS cloud providers. This is what many call the "raw" definition of cloud computing.
As organizations are increasingly making cloud computing a priority because of its cost efficiency, ease of implementation and capital expenditure savings opportunities, it is critical to level-set the knowledge on the differences of these building blocks when exploring solutions and providers. Today, there are many cloud providers - several are reputable organizations with the right infrastructure and technology, but others are only trying to get a piece of the pie as the cloud market continues to grow. Evaluating solutions can be challenging, but understanding the clouds' basic forms of delivery is the first step to a solution that is right in flexibility, cost and performance.
