Cloud services provide a secure, cost-effective, and convenient way to access infrastructure or software provided by an external vendor. Especially for companies, the use of one or more clouds often proves to be interesting. Cloud services include: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, FaaS and XaaS.
What are cloud services?
Modern software facilitates many work steps, but sometimes requires very large amounts of memory. Faced with space and security requirements, it is often necessary to resort to a back-up solution, to outsource the load and have infrastructures, platforms, software or individual functions available externally. These can then be put to use at any time, regardless of device, and can be used without restriction. Cloud Computing services perform precisely this task.
Such services provide the required resources over the Internet or a VPN (Virtual Private Network or “virtual private network”). Extensive capacities of servers are the basis for the smooth operation of this process, which are able to manage the flow of user data in the first instance, and then make it available without delay. This eliminates the need for local storage.
What are the benefits of cloud services?
A robust and suitable cloud services solution brings users many advantages. This covers in particular the following elements:
Resources
Cloud services can make large-scale structures available, which companies or individuals would otherwise be unable to implement. This makes it possible to deploy large volumes and data streams at any time, without consuming on-premises resources. Since the procurement of additional hardware is superfluous, the possibilities for creating additional storage space are in principle unlimited.
Costs
This is associated with a huge source of savings. In the absence of cloud services functionality, additional hardware and software must be purchased and stored depending on the individual scenario. Cloud services make it possible to efficiently manage peaks in demand. Users only pay for the services they really need and use. No additional investment is necessary.
Flexibility
It also boosts your flexibility. Cloud services can be requested on demand. In periods of over-activity, additional capacities supplement the subscription to absorb the additional charges. When such volumes are no longer needed, they can generally be discarded. This not only saves money, but also provides the necessary security, because a quick reaction is possible even in the event of the unexpected.
Security
In addition, cloud services provide the highest level of cloud security possible. By foregoing additional equipment, the risk of loss or damage is minimized. On the other hand, all servers are equipped with numerous security features that prevent unauthorized access, malware attacks or data loss. Strong defense mechanisms, regular backups and continuous monitoring guarantee excellent protection of Cloud Computing services and therefore of your data.
What cloud services are available?
The so-called solutions as a service are particularly popular in the field of cloud services. Although there are many differences between IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and other notions, these approaches are quite similar in essence. It is always above all a question of providing users with infrastructures, technologies, platforms or software. The most common patterns of different Cloud Computing services are:
IaaS
IaaS is the acronym of the term “Infrastructure as a Service”. An IT infrastructure is made available to users via the Internet. It may be here storage, server or network resources accessible through virtual machines.
IaaS is a very common form of cloud services, and can be used at both private and enterprise level. This eliminates the need to purchase, store and maintain additional proprietary hardware. Authorized persons have unrestricted access to the data, and the data is protected by numerous security mechanisms.
PaaS
PaaS stands for “Platform as a Service”. This type of cloud services is used preferably in web application development. Developers and programming teams or individuals use these frameworks to program, test, and maintain their own applications. Hardware and software are provided to them by these services. This leads to significant cost and resource savings.
SaaS
SaaS is the acronym for “Software as a Service”. THE programs and software collections are made available to users. There is no need to purchase or install them separately, as they can be used through cloud services. These services are very frequently used in the areas of customer relationship management (CRM), human resource management (HRM) and data management.
FaaS
FaaS stands for “Function as a Service”. This form of cloud services is widely used in IT development. Feature packs are provided and billed by the vendor. We can thus outsource popular functions or those that require high computing power and still use them without restriction.
XaaS
XaaS corresponds to “Anything as a Service”, which can be translated as “Everything as a service”. This catch-all concept encompasses cloud services that take a similar approach to the offerings above, but do not fit into these categories. We thus find among the various XaaS disaster recovery, communication or monitoring offers.
What types of cloud are available?
Cloud Computing services can also be categorized into different cloud types. They are divided into four different delivery models:
public cloud
Public cloud services provide access to various computing resources over the public Internet. A terminal that can connect to the Internet is enough to access the public Cloud.
Private cloud
Unlike the public Cloud which is generally accessible to the public, the private Cloud is reserved for a limited circle of people. For example, this Cloud service is offered within a company and deployed on the Internet or on a private network.
hybrid cloud
The hybrid cloud is located at the crossroads of the private cloud and the public cloud or corresponds to an internal data center. Data here can be stored in different locations, depending on where it is needed and how sensitive it is. The hybrid cloud connects the different storage systems in order to be able to request them in complete transparency.
Multi Cloud
Multi-cloud combines different cloud services that are interconnected or operate independently of each other. This always involves at least two Clouds of the same or different type.
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