Basic Cloud Computing Types

Abstract

Cloud computing’s marquee feature is the availability of all required software on the web. The principal service that provides this feature is Software as a Service (SaaS) and this is the leading type of service on the cloud. Medium sized businesses that have the ability to have computing expertise amongst its work force have the option of selecting Platform as a Service (PaaS). PaaS gives the business the ability to choose applications that fit their needs most by selecting multiple platforms from the cloud provider. Large and niche businesses have the option of selecting only the infrastructure from the cloud provider, thus benefiting from the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) option. In this chapter we will highlight the major benefits and certain drawbacks of these three important services in the cloud. Moreover, the cloud provides different modes in which an organization could benefit. The four basic modes are: public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud and community cloud. Public clouds are the most widely deployed and used by all small and medium sized businesses. Private clouds are predominantly used by large businesses that need to supplement their data centers in a reliable way. Hybrid clouds provide a way for a business to manage certain services in-house and use the cloud for some of their customer facing applications. The community cloud serves a vertical market such as health care or automotive where the users have some common features in their applications. This chapter will address the strengths and weaknesses of these four modes of cloud computing. We will conclude this chapter with a survey of Storage as a Service that is gaining ground as an important cloud service.