Maciej Skrzos
Data Lead
IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and even CaaS – these acronyms floating around the subject of cloud technology might seem to complicate the already complex topic. But what do these terms really mean, and how can a businessperson make sense of it all to make informed decisions?
These acronyms refer to cloud service delivery models that define your use of the technology, its pricing, and the ultimate benefits. They allow different business models to find the best fit that lets them use their resources in a smart and efficient way. It also defines the level of responsibility and management – there are solutions for those who like having everything under their control, and for those who want to delegate most of the work.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) refers to renting virtual machines, storage, and networks from a third-party cloud provider. This solution is meant for businesses in need of equipment who either don’t want to invest upfront in the physical hardware, or want to stop maintaining their own. This way, you don’t have to pay for unused resources, and therefore waste money, and you get to scale up at once if you need to increase your capacity.
IaaS is all about renting space. Anything else – maintenance, management, configuration, or security, among others – may stay within your own responsibility and under your control. This means that you need your own reliable in-house team of IT experts to ensure everything runs smoothly and to efficiently manage your resources.
IaaS benefits businesses of all sizes. Large enterprises use it to scale efficiently and manage complex IT operations, while SMEs and startups rely on its flexibility and cost-effectiveness to grow without heavy upfront investment.
Examples of IaaS providers are:
Container as a Service (CaaS) refers to renting a system to manage and run your containerized apps, meaning those that are prepackaged with code, libraries, settings, and dependencies required to run the app on any machine or environment. In comparison to IaaS, you don’t have to think twice about the infrastructure – you can focus on scaling, deploying, and managing your containerized apps in a specialized environment. In other words, CaaS is a part of serverless computing, where infrastructure concerns stay in the background.
But on the other hand, you lose control over the used virtual machines, storage, or the underlying hardware; this is taken care of by the cloud provider. Typically, containerization is seen as a way to avoid vendor lock-in, but the real risk emerges when a business becomes overly dependent on a specific cloud provider’s services. Thankfully, this can be avoided by designing the proper architecture of CaaS to ensure flexibility.
DevOps teams, software development companies, and web-based startups are just a few examples of businesses that could make the best use of CaaS.
Examples of CaaS providers are:
Platform as a Service (PaaS) refers to renting an environment to build, run, and manage your applications. This environment may include servers, storage, database, development tools, middleware, and networking resources. Similarly to CaaS, PaaS also removes the need to concern yourself with infrastructure, but it takes away your control over containers, networking, and orchestration. This makes PaaS much simpler, with its biggest benefit laying in enabling rapid and easier development of your applications.
On the other hand, PaaS, being part of serverless, will most likely make you dependent on the specific cloud provider, making any switches difficult, if not outright impossible. That happens because the cloud provider’s services are deeply integrated with their specific infrastructure and tools. Depending on your goals, this can be either an advantage or a hindrance.
Software development teams, startups, e-commerce platforms, or data analytics companies could potentially make the best use of PaaS.
Examples of PaaS providers are:
Software as a Service (SaaS) refers to renting entire applications or services over the internet, removing the need for local installation. Unlike traditional software, SaaS includes both application-level solutions (like Office 365 and Salesforce) as well as serverless cloud services that handle data processing, storage, and other backend functions (such as Snowflake, Google BigQuery, AWS Glue, and Azure Logic Apps).
SaaS is growing rapidly, with an increasing number of services being introduced every year. One of the main advantages of SaaS is that it is maintenance-free and comes with built-in support, making it accessible even to companies without in-house IT teams. As a result, SaaS solutions are essential for a variety of business operations, from everyday tasks to complex data processing.
This introduction couldn’t be complete without mentioning cloud deployment options, which define the control, scalability, and security of the rented services. It’s also worth mentioning that not all models are available in all cloud deployment options – for example, private cloud is more commonly used for PaaS than SaaS.
When people talk about “the cloud,” they’re usually referring to the public cloud. In this model, computing resources are provided by a third-party over the internet, and they’re available to many businesses and individuals. But just because it’s called “public” doesn’t mean other users can see your data or actions – “public” simply means that the cloud’s infrastructure is shared by many users at once. You can still count on the leading providers to ensure top-notch security.
In comparison to the public cloud, the private cloud offers a dedicated space that you can control and customize according to your specific security and performance needs. This also means that the responsibility over the maintenance and security shifts from the provider to you – giving you more control, but requiring expertise and resources to manage it effectively.
In other words, the private cloud is the closest to the on-premise solution.
Hybrid cloud is like using the best of both worlds by combining different types of cloud services to build your applications. It means you can use each option where it works best, but it might not always be the cheapest choice to develop or maintain.
When a company uses services from multiple public cloud providers – for example, one for a database, another for user authentication – it’s called a multi-cloud setup. The decision to choose such a complex system might be driven by the need to comply with regulations, avoid over-reliance on a single provider, or select the best options for specific needs.
The future of cloud service delivery models and deployment options is heading towards more flexibility and tailored solutions. While models like IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and others will still be around, hybrid and multi-cloud strategies will gain importance. As businesses deal with more complex systems, the cloud they choose will depend on what they specifically need, meaning there’s no longer a one-size-fits-all solution. In the future, hybrid and multi-cloud will likely be the go-to approach, offering businesses the flexibility, resilience, and choice to pick the best tools and services for their unique needs.
P. Wasilewski - Head of Solutions
P. Wasilewski - Head of Solutions
A. Rakowski - Partner Relationship Manager
P. Wasilewski - Head of Solutions
