IaaS has become the norm for many companies who prefer scalable infrastructure services at lower costs - but what does it really mean to use Infrastructure-as-a-Service?
Content:
IaaS is short for "Infrastructure-as-a-Service" which basically translates to cloud-based IT-infrastructures that can be rented depending on specific requirements. As such, IaaS replaces the often expensive and resource-intensive on-premise servers that used to make up the main computer network of any company.
A very dedicated cloud server that is not shared with other users. The company has full control over their specific "cloud" and does operation on their own (although even there it is possible to use managed services if needed). A private cloud is mostly used for sensitive data and business-critical operations due to the higher control over the entire cloud environment.
The cloud-advantages of scalability and easy use without installation or maintenance are also part of the private cloud.
Cloud services that are being shared with different users/companies. This doesn't mean that they can look into each other's systems and data but rather that they use from the same resource pool. Public cloud services are quite often more affordable, however, if one user has a high peak of usage, this might affect the performance of the other user's resources.
Public clouds are probably the most popular cloud models. Google services or the Microsoft Office 365 environment are public cloud services.
Often used is the hybrid cloud model, which allocates sensitive and critical processes and data into a private cloud environment and the rest to a public cloud. This way, companies can be secure and flexible where it counts. A key basis for this combination is the combination of clear processes and structured data to make sure that sensitive or critical data stays in the private cloud.
IaaS is a huge step forwards to enable companies with processing and storage without high investments and long setup times for on-premise servers. The service model can decrease budget with pay-per-use models and it is much easier to scale down or up depending on use. Service and support is usually provided by the cloud vendor and even though it's always recommended to have an internal IT that collaborates with the vendor, this reduces overall workloads for your IT.
A huge reason for IaaS services is the risk management. Most cloud services work with redundancies, to make sure that one failed server does not interrupt operations. Additionally, most services also have backups, which makes data recovery much easier in case of a security breach, server failure, etc.
Although for quite some time, companies feared that the cloud might be less secure, this is not the case if the company itself has security awareness and clear data structures.
In fact, the automatic updates ensure a much higher safety level without operative disruptions than the old-fashioned on-premise updates that took hours and usually meant that the IT team had to stay late at night or do it during weekends to ensure that operations were minimally impacted.
By the way, those automatic updates also mean that the cloud has longevity because vendors obviously want efficient, long-lasting hardware and software to provide better services. As such, cloud-based infrastructure usually is state-of-the-art, gets constant updates to fix not only bugs but also add new features and optimization.
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