What is IaaS?
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a business service model that delivers computer infrastructure technology on an outsourced, rental basis to support "virtual data center" operations. Typically, IaaS provides hardware, storage, servers and data center space or network components; it may also include software.
An IaaS provider provides policy-based services and is responsible for housing, operating and maintaining the infrastructure equipment it provides for a client. Clients usually pay on a per-use or utility computing basis.
Characteristics of IaaS systems include:
- Automated administrative tasks
- Dynamic scaling
- Platform virtualization technology
- GUI and API-based access
- Internet connectivity
IaaS is also described as one of three main categories of cloud computing service. The other two are software as a service (SaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS).