Simplify IT management with scalable, cloud-based infrastructure

Explore how IaaS gives business the flexibility to scale by providing cloud-based infrastructure for computing, storage, and networking—without the costs of managing physical infrastructure.

Key takeaways

IaaS is a cloud computing model that provides on-demand servers, storage, and networking without the need for physical hardware.
IaaS delivers virtualized computing resources hosted in cloud provider data centers and accessed through a web interface or API.
Businesses can scale resources as needed and pay only for what they use, reducing costs and improving flexibility.
IaaS enables rapid application deployment by eliminating the need for hardware management and simplifying IT infrastructure.
Benefits include reduced costs, flexible scaling, and faster deployment.
IaaS is used for migration, development, storage, web apps, high-performance computing, and big data analysis.
IaaS is evolving with trends like AI-driven automation, edge computing, and eco-friendly infrastructure.

Infrastructure as a service definition

IaaS is a cloud computing model that delivers on-demand servers, storage, and networking, allowing businesses to rent resources, scale flexibly, and reduce hardware costs.

How does IaaS work?

IaaS works by provides virtualized computing resources—such as servers, storage, and networking—online. Cloud providers host and manage the underlying infrastructure in their data centers, while users access and configure these resources via a web interface or API.

Businesses can scale resources up or down as needed, paying only for what they use. This eliminates the need for physical hardware management, reduces costs, and makes it possible to rapidly deploy applications and services.

Comparing SaaS, PaaS, and MaaS

The key differences between software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and model as a service (MaaS) come down to what they provide and what needs they meet.

SaaS delivers software applications online, allowing end users to access and use them without managing or maintaining the underlying infrastructure. Examples include email services, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and office productivity tools.
PaaS provides a complete cloud-based environment for developers to build, deploy, and manage applications—all without the need to manage infrastructure. PaaS also offers tools and services for application development, such as databases, middleware, and development frameworks.
MaaS, like SaaS and PaaS, uses a cloud-based delivery model but is specifically designed for machine learning models. While SaaS and PaaS cater to a wide range of applications, MaaS focuses on AI use cases. This specialization enables MaaS to provide highly efficient and optimized solutions for ML models, allowing businesses to integrate machine learning capabilities without developing models from scratch.

Benefits of IaaS

IaaS helps businesses cut costs, scale efficiently, enhance security, and speed up deployment.

Lowers expenses and optimizes costs

IaaS removes the expense of setting up and maintaining a physical datacenter, making it a budget-friendly option for cloud migration. With pay-as-you-go plans, businesses can cut down on hardware and maintenance expenses while allowing their IT teams to focus on core operations.

Boosts IT scale and performance

IaaS makes it easier for businesses to scale globally and accommodate spikes in resource demand. This facilitates faster IT delivery for employees worldwide and improves application performance.

Increases stability and reliability

With IaaS, there's no need for organizations to maintain and upgrade software and hardware or troubleshoot equipment problems. Instead, the service provider ensures that the infrastructure is reliable and meets service-level agreements (SLAs).

Improves business continuity

Achieving high availability, business continuity, and disaster recovery can be expensive because it requires a significant amount of technology and staff. IaaS can help reduce this cost. It also helps businesses access applications and data as usual during a disaster or outage.

Enhances security

Thanks to their strong infrastructure and security expertise, cloud service providers can often deliver more robust applications and data protection than an individual organization can achieve in-house.

Increases deployment speed

With IaaS, businesses can set up the infrastructure for new products or initiatives in minutes or hours instead of days or weeks. By eliminating the need to set up and manage physical infrastructure, IaaS helps deliver applications to users faster.

Use cases

Common IaaS business scenarios

Organizations typically use IaaS for these scenarios:

Lift-and-shift migration

This is the fastest and least expensive method of migrating an application or workload to the cloud. Without refactoring their underlying architecture, organizations can increase the scale and performance, enhance the security, and reduce the costs of running an application or workload.

Test and development

Teams can quickly set up and dismantle test and development environments, bringing new applications to market faster. IaaS makes it fast and economical to scale dev/test environments up and down.

Storage, backup, and recovery

IaaS eliminates the need for upfront storage investments and data management, which typically requires skilled staff to ensure compliance. It helps businesses handle unpredictable demand, scale storage as needed, and streamline backup and recovery planning.

Web apps

IaaS provides the necessary infrastructure for web applications, including storage, servers, and networking. Businesses can quickly deploy web apps and scale resources up or down to accommodate fluctuating demand.

High-performance computing

IaaS supports high-performance computing by providing the power of supercomputers, computer grids, or clusters to solve complex problems. Applications include protein folding, earthquake simulations, climate modeling, financial forecasting, and product design analysis.

Big data analysis

IaaS enables businesses to process and analyze vast amounts of data efficiently by providing scalable computing power and storage. This is essential for uncovering insights in areas like customer behavior, market trends, scientific research, and real-time analytics.

Future trends in infrastructure as a service

IaaS is evolving to meet the demands of businesses seeking scalable, cost-effective, and high-performance cloud solutions. Some of the key trends shaping the future of IaaS include:

AI-driven automation. IaaS providers are adding more AI and automation to help manage resources, improve performance, and cut down on manual work. Predictive analytics will help businesses adjust their infrastructure more quickly, while AI as a service (AIaaS) will continue to grow as a cloud service model.

Edge computing growth. As demand increases for faster, real-time applications, IaaS will expand to process data closer to users. This will be especially useful for IoT, live analytics, and 5G-powered applications.

Eco-friendly cloud infrastructure. With a stronger focus on sustainability, IaaS providers are building energy-efficient data centers, working toward carbon-neutral operations, and using AI to make workloads more efficient.

These changes will make IaaS smarter, faster, and more adaptable, strengthening its role in the future of cloud computing.

Key technologies and innovations

IaaS is improving with new developments in computing, networking, and storage. Some of the most important innovations include:

Serverless computing. More IaaS providers are offering serverless computing options, allowing businesses to run applications without managing servers. This reduces costs and makes scaling easier. Graphics processing unit (GPU)-

Graphics processing unit (GPU)-powered computing. High-performance GPUs are becoming more available in cloud environments, helping with AI, deep learning, and complex computing tasks.

Software-defined networking (SDN). SDN allows networks to adjust automatically, improving security, reducing delays, and making infrastructure more efficient.

These advancements will help businesses run faster, more flexible, and more efficient operations in the cloud.

IaaS market outlook

The IaaS market is growing quickly as more businesses move to the cloud for better flexibility and lower costs. Major factors driving this growth include the rising demand for scalable IT infrastructure, increased use of AI and big data, and the shift toward hybrid and multicloud strategies.

As companies continue their shift to digital tools, IaaS will remain a key part of helping them grow, adapt, and compete. The market is expected to keep expanding, fueled by improvements in automation, security, and cloud-native technologies.

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Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is a cloud computing model that provides virtualized computing resources online. Instead of maintaining physical hardware, businesses can rent servers, storage, and networking on a pay-as-you-go basis. This allows for flexible scaling, cost savings, and easier management of IT infrastructure.
The difference between SaaS and IaaS is that SaaS provides ready-to-use software applications, while IaaS offers cloud-based computing infrastructure. With SaaS, users access applications without worrying about maintenance, whereas IaaS provides the raw computing power needed to run applications, requiring users to manage their own software and configurations.
The classification of IaaS falls under cloud computing services, specifically as a foundational layer that provides virtualized hardware resources. IaaS is typically categorized alongside other cloud models such as SaaS (Software as a Service) and PaaS (Platform as a Service), serving as the base infrastructure that supports applications and development environments.
An example of an IaaS product is Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines, which provide scalable, on-demand cloud computing resources, allowing businesses to run applications and workloads without maintaining physical servers.
Using IaaS over PaaS is beneficial for businesses that need more control over their infrastructure and software configurations. While PaaS simplifies development by managing the operating system and runtime environment, IaaS allows organizations to customize their setups, install specific applications, and have greater flexibility in managing their IT resources.

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What is infrastructure as a service (IaaS)?