IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS: what do these terms mean and what are the differences?

What is IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)?

IaaS (infrastructure as a service) is a cloud service that provides critical computing, storage, and networking resources on demand. Let’s take the example of storage and computing power. With the IaaS model, you can move all or a part of the infrastructure that resides on-premises or in a physical data center to the cloud. Virtualization provides entire IT environments with their own CPUs, memory, network, interface, and storage.

The difference from on-premises storage is that with IaaS, your IT infrastructure runs on physical hardware in an external data center. You use a virtualized environment and do not have to invest in or manage physical hardware. You are, however, still responsible for configuring and maintaining the environment that runs on the infrastructure.

With the IaaS model, the cloud provider owns and manages the hardware and software and also owns or leases the data center. If you use an IaaS solution, you rent resources such as computing or storage. You arrange them according to your wishes and only pay for the resources that your organization actually uses.

The benefits of IaaS

The high degree of autonomy that you are able to achieve is one of the biggest benefits of IaaS. You have the complete freedom to arrange the hosting space as you wish. This applies to both the software and resources used. In addition, an IaaS solution is associated with lower costs than setting up and managing an infrastructure that runs on-premises. You can outsource a lot to the service provider and no longer have to (re)invest in expensive physical hardware.

The disadvantages of IaaS

The main disadvantage of IaaS is that you need quite a bit of technical knowledge to manage the infrastructure, since you are responsible for configuring and maintaining the environment that runs on the IT infrastructure.

What is PaaS (Platform as a Service)?

PaaS refers to a complete development and deployment environment in the cloud. With PaaS, the cloud supplier not only arranges the infrastructure, but also takes care of everything to do with operating systems, middleware (such as Java and .NET), BI services, and systems for managing databases. Installing and managing the software is also the cloud provider’s responsibility.

PaaS does still allow you to keep control over your data, giving you the option to develop applications yourself. You buy the necessary resources from the cloud provider and only pay for what you use. In principle, PaaS provides you with an almost fully equipped virtual platform that allows you to create both simple and complex cloud and business applications.

The benefits of PaaS

PaaS has many interesting advantages, especially when it comes to ease of use and speed.

• The service provider configures, manages, and monitors your servers. You do not have to worry about the design or invest in specialized knowledge.
• You can build and implement solutions quickly as you can use ready-made code rather than developing it yourself.
• PaaS services apply to software that suppliers do not yet offer as a SaaS solution.
• PaaS software is accessible to multiple users. Even if your workforce rapidly grows and expands, you will not run into complications.

The disadvantage of PaaS

The main disadvantage of PaaS is the limited freedom and relative lack of flexibility. The service provider makes most of the design, configuration, and monitoring choices. You, therefore, relinquish control over these aspects of your cloud environment.

SaaS solutions often take the shape of complete software packages, including hosting. Well-known examples are collaboration platforms such as Google Docs and Slack, and e-commerce packages such as Shopify that provide all the tools you need to build, set up and manage an online store.

The benefits of SaaS

Convenience and user-friendliness are important advantages of SaaS. The service provider arranges everything for you. This means that little technical knowledge is required within the organization to use SaaS.

Another advantage of SaaS is scalability. Scaling up or down in use is easy. This is an extremely useful feature during both peak and off-peak periods, and also comes in handy when you’re onboarding new employees. Licenses are often granted on a rolling monthly basis and can be canceled at any time.

SaaS also has advantages from a cost-technical point of view. You don’t need to purchase additional hardware or software and only pay for the services you actually use. Turning options on and off can usually be done flexibly and according to current business needs.

The disadvantage of SaaS

SaaS gives you less control over your data. When it comes to data storage and management, you’re partially reliant on the provider. A good service level agreement (SLA) allows you to make robust agreements with cloud providers and offer guarantees in the field of data and privacy protection. Choosing SaaS also means you are completely dependent on the service provider for installing and setting up the SaaS solution.

The biggest differences between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS

The biggest difference between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS is how much you outsource to a supplier or service provider. With IaaS, you spend the least amount of money and keep the highest level of control over your IT environment. With PaaS, you outsource a little more, while SaaS means that you rely almost entirely on the expertise and service of the cloud provider.

Which model is the best fit for an organization depends strongly on factors such as:

• The desired degree of unburdening
• The technical expertise present within the organization
• The available IT budget

IaaS is recommended if you already have an IT environment in place, but prefer not to purchase the hardware, connections, and space in a data center yourself. With IaaS, you don't have to worry about the physical infrastructure but are still able to exercise control over the design and configuration of your IT landscape.

PaaS is a good choice if you are a developer or if there are developers working within your organization. PaaS allows you to set up a development, test, and deployment environment very quickly and easily. You don’t have to outsource that task, which saves you money and keeps you in control.

SaaS is an excellent option if you want to outsource everything, perhaps because IT expertise within the organization is limited or because you do not have the time or desire to monitor and manage your IT landscape yourself. With SaaS, you don’t have to purchase hardware yourself or manage applications and data. This leaves you with more time to focus on other important tasks and projects.

About Eurofiber Cloud Infra

As a full-service provider of IT infrastructure solutions, Eurofiber Cloud Infra is happy to help you reap the benefits of the cloud and the “as a service” model. Our IaaS platform offers a shielded virtual data center environment built on high-quality infrastructure. The secure and scalable cloud platform is an ideal basis for developing and hosting business applications or setting up complex IT environments.

With Cloud Connect, we also offer private connectivity to the public cloud, while our platform CloudHub brings your own data center, cloud, and all SaaS, PaaS, and connectivity providers together in one central architecture.