Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is a standardized, highly automated offering in which computing resources owned by a service provider, complemented by storage and networking capabilities, are offered to customers on demand. Resources are scalable and elastic in near real time and metered by use. Self-service interfaces, including an API and a graphical user interface (GUI), are exposed directly to customers. Resources may be single-tenant or multitenant, and are hosted by the service provider or on-premises in a customer’s data center.
Private Cloud: Infrastructure services are provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization. The physical infrastructure may be owned, managed and operated by the organization, a third party or some combination, and it may exist on or off premises.
Public Cloud: Infrastructure services are provisioned for use by multiple organizations (also known as a multi-tenant model). The physical infrastructure may be owned, managed and operated by a business, academic or government organization, or some combination. It exists on the premises of the cloud provider.
Hybrid Cloud: A company chooses to leverage both public cloud and private cloud for applications or overall architecture. The two cloud models remain unique entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability.
Advantages of IaaS
IaaS is advantageous to companies in scenarios where scalability and quick provisioning are key. In other words, organizations experiencing rapid growth but lacking the capital to invest in hardware are great candidates for IaaS models. IaaS can also be beneficial to companies with steady application workloads that simply want to offload some of the routine operations and maintenance involved in managing infrastructure.
Other advantages may include the following:
Pay for What You Use: Fees are computed via usage-based metrics
Reduce Capital Expenditures: IaaS is typically a monthly operational expense
Dynamically Scale: Rapidly add capacity in peak times and scale down as needed
Increase Security: IaaS providers invest heavily in security technology and expertise
Future-Proof: Access to state-of-the-art data center, hardware and operating systems
Self-Service Provisioning: Access via simple internet connection
Reallocate IT Resources: Free up IT staff for higher value projects
Reduce Downtime: IaaS enables instant recovery from outages
Boost Speed: Developers can begin projects once IaaS machines are provisioned
Enable Innovation: Add new capabilities and leverage APIs
Level the Playing Field: SMBs can compete with much larger firms
Examples of IaaS
Popular IaaS providers include Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Rackspace and Google Compute Engine.
Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service created by Microsoft for building, testing, deploying and managing applications and services through Microsoft-managed data centers.
Amazon Web Services is a secure cloud services platform, offering compute power, database storage, content delivery and other functionality to help businesses scale and grow.
Rackspace is a managed cloud computing company that aims to make it easy to manage private and public cloud deployments. The company is the largest managed cloud provider, offering expertise across cloud platforms such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and OpenStack.
Google Compute Engine is Google’s IaaS virtual machine offering. It allows customers to use powerful virtual machines in the cloud as server resources instead of acquiring and managing server hardware.
