3 Major Types of cloud computing services

cloud computing has been the buzzword on the Internet for quite some time now and businesses both big and small have now started to realize the benefits offered by cloud computing and there is a gradual inclination towards it because business owners have realized that the money they spend every year on building infrastructure could be otherwise invested in other areas of their businesses and cloud computing can take care of the infrastructure for half the price.

There are basically three different types of cloud computing services available. The three different cloud computing services are different from each other and each of them has their own share of advantages depending on the requirements of the user. Here’s a brief know how of all the three types of cloud computing services.

Software as a service - SAAS or software as a service is also popularly known as on-demand software. This is one area of cloud computing that truly helps business owners realize the benefits offered by cloud computing services. By opting for this kind of service, a business owner would not need to buy software licenses and it is more like renting in software for periodical use and you can continue to use the software for as long as you like just by making the monthly payments. You can save tons of money that you would have otherwise spent on expensive licenses. The most common software delivered by this system include content management, ERP, human resource management, customer relationship management and accounting.

Platform as a service - This is also popularly known as PaaS. Now, you need to understand that cloud computing is all about allowing you to access all your data in real-time from virtual servers without the need for you to invest on expensive software and hardware. Depending on your business requirements, you would need to have a computer platform and that is exactly what is offered by platform as a service. Platform as a service basically links software as a service and infrastructure as a service. This essentially consists of the different operating systems, architecture and languages.

Infrastructure as a service - if you have a business that requires huge data transfer, you would essentially need to have a data center in your premises and of course the necessary hardware to connect the different workstations in your data center. Infrastructure as a service basically virtualizes the hardware system and you don’t need to have hardware installations inside your premises in order to access your data. By using infrastructure as a service, you would be able to access all your data in real-time without having to worry about infrastructure maintenance and installation.

All of the above cloud computing services would require you to pay a basic monthly price irrespective of how much you use, but because of heavy competition in this area, more and more cloud computing service providers are coming up and the basic price has gone down considerably over the last couple of months across all providers. The biggest advantage with cloud computing is you don’t need to worry about downtime attributed to huge data transfer, natural calamities and virus problems.

photo credit: MrGuilt