Overview of Cloud Computing, Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, Software as a Service.
Cloud computing means transferring ICT resources (servers, hosts, applications, databases, platforms etc.) to a cloud service provider (CSP) with the goal of reducing capital expenditures (CapEx).
Cloud computing differs from legacy hosting services in that CSPs offer standardized services on a massive scale which results in economy-of-scale effects thus further reducing operating expenses (OpEx).
Different cloud models such as public, private and hybrid clouds address different customer needs.
The 3 categories for the functional level of cloud services are IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service),
PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service). Countless models emerge almost daily such as MaaS (Management as a Service), BaaS (Backend as a Service) and NaaS (Network as a Service).
To accommodate increases in processing power, cloud services offer the possibility to scale-up or scale-out.