There are generally four types of cloud based on location and deployment—public cloud, private cloud, community cloud and hybrid cloud.
Then, what are IaaS, PaaS and SaaS?
Well, they are also the category of cloud, but in terms of services.
Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS)
The most basic category of cloud services is IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service. It means that you use IT infrastructure like servers, VMs, storage, networks, and OS on rent or pay-as-you-go-basis.
Examples of IaaS are Amazon EC2, Windows Azure, Rackspace, and Google Compute Engine.
Platform as a service (PaaS)
PaaS or Platform as a Service is a category of cloud services that offers a platform and environment to let developers make apps and services over the internet.
Since it is hosted over Internet, it eliminates the needs of setting up or managing infrastructure like servers, storage, databases and network requirement for development. It is affordable and quick way for developer to create web or mobile app.
Examples of PaaS are AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Windows Azure, Heroku, Force.com, Google App Engine, and Apache Stratos.
Software as a service (SaaS)
In SaaS or Software as a Service, you provide software apps over the Internet, on demand and generally on a subscription basis. This cloud model allows you host and manage the software apps. Besides, you can do maintenance tasks like software upgrades and security patching over SaaS. It is accessed by users via browser on their PC, tablet or phone.
Examples of SaaS are Google Apps and Microsoft Office 365.
What are the Benefits of Cloud Computing for Your Small Business?
Why choose cloud computing for your small business? Cloud computing provides you access to your data and apps from anywhere, anytime and from any device. In cloud computing, you use virtual technologies and infrastructure that are otherwise expensive and out of your reach.