Cloud Computing: IT-as-a-Service
What is IT-as-a-Service? It’s basically on-demand Information Technology Services. Instead of having to purchase a server, storage device and network devices, you pay a monthly fee for a given level of IT resources allocated to your business. It’s the heart of the Cloud Computing concept. As your IT needs grow, the allocation of Computing, Storage and Network resources happens automatically. If your IT needs shrink then the allocation shrinks automatically too.
For example, let’s say you were hosting a large IT event and you expected huge uptick in web traffic for 5-to-7 days. Normally you would need to stage up server resources to ensure your web server can handle the additional hits. You would also need to ensure you had enough bandwidth capacity to handle the extra traffic. Sometimes this requires purchasing extra equipment. Once the event is over and traffic goes back down to normal levels you are left with excess capacity. If you use the IT-as-a-Service (Cloud Computing) model the extra computing and network resources would have expanded and contracted seamlessly with your IT demands.
What Is Cloud Computing? Cloud Computing involves the interaction of several virtualized resources. Cloud computing is provided “as a service” via the internet in three basic forms:
IaaS – Infrastructure as a service – customers may choose this option as an alternative or complement to dedicated server hosting. IaaS, takes the Virtual Private Server product to the next level and makes it a true cloud computing service by providing scalable computing, storage and network resources on an “as-a-service” basic- completely on-demand.
PaaS – Platform as a service – Manages your software – Hosting applications, Database Apps,
SaaS – Software as a service – Delivers a specific software application via the cloud. An example would be a Hosted Microsoft Exchange Server deployment from a cloud computing service provider to a multi-seat office. Each end-user connects via an internet connection to the cloud provider instead of directly to an in-house mail server.