| Infrastructure
as a Service (IaaS) is also sometimes referred to as Hardware
as a Service (HaaS). It is one of the three fundamental
layers of cloud computing, the other two being
Software as a Service (SaaS)
and
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
.
IaaS
is essentially defined as realigning the paradigm of infrastructural
investment from an upfront capital outlay archetype to
an ongoing operational expense in the form of virtualized
utility. In other words, instead of categorizing computers,
servers and software programs investments as capital expenditures,
organizations are now able to conveniently participate
in a pay-as-you-go model, leaving the infrastructural investments
in the hands of cloud service providers.
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Some
may argue that the concept of IaaS have been utilized in the industry as
far back as 20 years ago, and they will be partial justified in saying
so. The precursor of IaaS is in the form of traditional data centers and
web hosting services. However, compared to its prehistoric ancestors, IaaS,
despite sharing the basic technology applications, has evolved into a completely
different creature. It has become more and dynamically interactive creature,
allowing theoretically unlimited offsite expansion and collaboration between
providers and end users.
IaaS
is typically characterized as:
• Web Based
• Offsite
• System Virtualization
• Maximum Redundancy
• Utility Economics
• Instant Scalability
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Amazon Web Services and GoGrid are among the pioneers in the industry and despite
their contrasting approach, easily provide the largest IaaS facility in the industry.
However, of late, Rackspace has been making significant strides in the area and
with its superior unallocated CPU cycles held in reserve, by as much as 3500%
according to a report, they bear close scrutiny. •
More on Cloud Computing
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