Infrastructure as a Service (Cloud Computing)

IAAS stands for “infrastructure as a service” which offers customers “on-demand” access to computational, storage and networking services. The setup, payment and use of these resources are easily scaled up and down as the consumer’s needs change. The boundaries between IAAS and PAAS are fluid, and will likely continue to change as the technology develops. IAAS is enabled by the technology of hardware virtualization, which allows computer servers to host multiple virtual machines (VMs for short) which each behave like an individual computer, capable of running their own operating systems. Customers begin by renting time from a IAAS provider such as Amazon EC2 or IBM Smart Cloud Enterprise. The customer specifies what type and how many VMs that they intend to lease and the lease period.

Upon payment, customers can immediately access their computing resources from an Internet connected web browser. If the customer needs more computing power, they can instruct their programs to allocate these resources automatically, allowing online companies to dramatically increase and reduce their IT infrastructure and expenditure. This ability to “auto-allocate” computing resources represents a revolutionary tool for online companies. From the onset, a firm can access exactly the IT resources it needs with negligible setup time.

Another contributor to IAAS is the lower cost of “commodity hardware” which can be installed in centralized data centers. This increase in computing capacity allows firms with large IT departments (such as Google or Amazon) to offer their excess capacity to customers as IAAS. Moore’s law, a statement on the ability of scientists and engineers to double the capacity of transistors in computer microprocessors every two years, has allowed the capability of hardware to increase and its cost to decrease.

The final keystone in the successful implementation of IAAS is the growth of the Internet itself, which bridges the gap between different hardware and software systems. It is the “central hub” bridging gaps between existing hardware infrastructure. Access to high speed Internet connections is a prerequisite to IAAS because it enables customers to remotely access their leased resources.

Customer access to IAAS is becoming increasingly easy. Hardware and software flexibility is a crucial part of IAAS. It allows customers to free themselves of technical concerns and focus on using their leased computing resources. As new computers become available, they can be installed in state of the art facilities of the IAAS providers. In this way, a crucial division of labor function has been performed. For limited projects where a quick calculation is required, a customer can lease a single hour of CPU time on the most sophisticated hardware available. With minimal difficulty customers can setup and provision their own customized “on-demand” IT department.