Sun’s view of cloud computing is an inclusive one: cloud computing can describe services being provided at any of the traditional layers from hardware to applications. In practice, cloud service providers tend to offer services that can be grouped into three categories: software as a service, platform as a service, and infrastructure as a service. These categories group together the various layers, with some overlap.
Software as a service (SaaS)
Software as a service features a complete application offered as a service on demand. A single instance of the software runs on the cloud and services multiple end users or client organizations.
The most widely known example of SaaS is salesforce.com, though many other examples have come to market, including the Google Apps offering of basic business services including email and word processing.
Although salesforce.com preceded the definition of cloud computing by a few years, it now operates by leveraging its companion force.com, which can be defined as a platform as a service.
Platform as a service (PaaS)
Platform as a service encapsulates a layer of software and provides it as a service that can be used to build higher-level services. There are at least two perspectives on PaaS depending on the perspective of the producer or consumer of the services:
• Someone producing PaaS might produce a platform by integrating an OS, middleware, application software, and even a development environment that is then provided to a customer as a service. For example, someone developing a PaaS offering might base it on a set of Sun™ xVM hypervisor virtual machines that include a NetBeans™ integrated development environment, a Sun GlassFish™ Web stack and support for additional programming languages such as Perl or Ruby.
• Someone using PaaS would see an encapsulated service that is presented to them through an API. The customer interacts with the platform through the API, and the platform does what is necessary to manage and scale itself to provide a given level of service. Virtual appliances can be classified as instances of PaaS. A content switch appliance, for example, would have all of its component software hidden from the customer, and only an API or GUI for configuring and deploying the service provided to them.
PaaS offerings can provide for every phase of software development and testing, or they can be specialized around a particular area such as content management. Commercial examples of PaaS include the Google Apps Engine, which serves applications on Google’s infrastructure. PaaS services such as these can provide a powerful basis on which to deploy applications, however they may be constrained by the capabilities that the cloud provider chooses to deliver.
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
Infrastructure as a service delivers basic storage and compute capabilities as standardized services over the network. Servers, storage systems, switches, routers, and other systems are pooled and made available to handle workloads that range from application components to high-performance computing applications. Commercial examples of IaaS include Joyent, whose main product is a line of virtualized servers that provide a highly available on-demand infrastructure.
Source of Information : Introduction to Cloud Computing architecture White Paper 1st Edition, June 2009
Software as a service (SaaS)
Software as a service features a complete application offered as a service on demand. A single instance of the software runs on the cloud and services multiple end users or client organizations.
The most widely known example of SaaS is salesforce.com, though many other examples have come to market, including the Google Apps offering of basic business services including email and word processing.
Although salesforce.com preceded the definition of cloud computing by a few years, it now operates by leveraging its companion force.com, which can be defined as a platform as a service.
Platform as a service (PaaS)
Platform as a service encapsulates a layer of software and provides it as a service that can be used to build higher-level services. There are at least two perspectives on PaaS depending on the perspective of the producer or consumer of the services:
• Someone producing PaaS might produce a platform by integrating an OS, middleware, application software, and even a development environment that is then provided to a customer as a service. For example, someone developing a PaaS offering might base it on a set of Sun™ xVM hypervisor virtual machines that include a NetBeans™ integrated development environment, a Sun GlassFish™ Web stack and support for additional programming languages such as Perl or Ruby.
• Someone using PaaS would see an encapsulated service that is presented to them through an API. The customer interacts with the platform through the API, and the platform does what is necessary to manage and scale itself to provide a given level of service. Virtual appliances can be classified as instances of PaaS. A content switch appliance, for example, would have all of its component software hidden from the customer, and only an API or GUI for configuring and deploying the service provided to them.
PaaS offerings can provide for every phase of software development and testing, or they can be specialized around a particular area such as content management. Commercial examples of PaaS include the Google Apps Engine, which serves applications on Google’s infrastructure. PaaS services such as these can provide a powerful basis on which to deploy applications, however they may be constrained by the capabilities that the cloud provider chooses to deliver.
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
Infrastructure as a service delivers basic storage and compute capabilities as standardized services over the network. Servers, storage systems, switches, routers, and other systems are pooled and made available to handle workloads that range from application components to high-performance computing applications. Commercial examples of IaaS include Joyent, whose main product is a line of virtualized servers that provide a highly available on-demand infrastructure.
Source of Information : Introduction to Cloud Computing architecture White Paper 1st Edition, June 2009
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