Questions On Management Information Systems

As we learned in previous weeks, cloud computing services have three major different cloud architectures for different demanding customers. The three different architectures are Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). For the words of the name, we can see the obvious differences among these three architectures, which they provide different cloud services based on their specific cloud architectures. What are the differences among these three cloud services? What are the responsibilities for the cloud services providers? What are the responsibilities for the customers? The following will discuss about these questions.

[1] Understanding the Cloud Computing Stack: SaaS, PaaS, IaaS | Knowledge Center | Rackspace Hosting. 2015. Understanding the Cloud Computing Stack: SaaS, PaaS, IaaS | Knowledge Center | Rackspace Hosting. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/whitepaper/understanding-the-cloud-computing-stack-saas-paas-iaas. [Accessed 15 August

process. For instance, one important use of PaaS is that it allows for the development of SaaS,

PaaS is the second type of the service layer of cloud computing. PaaS provides a platform and environment as a service over the Internet which is usually targeted to developers. The purpose of Paas is to allow the developers to build an application and services over the Internet. PaaS services normally are treat in the cloud which it can be accessed by users simply via their web browser. In order for these application to run smoothly, there needs to be platform supporting it just as powerful and flexible. Besides that, Platform as a Service also allows users to create their own software applications using tools that supplied by the cloud provider. PaaS Services consist of preconfigured features that customers can subscribe. Besides that, to subscription basis in PaaS services, users need to pay for it so that it will be works. According to (Wang, GE, PING, WU & FU, 2010), an examples of well-known PaaS is Google App Engine. Google App Engine offers the circumstance to creating Java and Phyton on the servers that hosted by Google.

(4) Platform as a Service - This offers a development environment as a service. You can use this technology to develop your own applications that run on the providers server.

Cloud computing offers services to users based on on-demand self-service, broad network access, measured service, resource pooling and rapid elasticity; These characteristics promise a faster time for implementation, lower cost, superior scalability and a better end user satisfaction. These services are delivered in models known as Software As A service (SaaS), Platform As A Service (PAAS), and Infrastructure As A Service (IAAS). The first layer which is the Software As A service (SaaS) is the layer in which software applications are delivered to end users. Below is the Platform As A Service (PAAS) layer which offers a platform on which applications can be developed. The lowest layer is the Infrastructure As A Service (IAAS) layer, in this layer the physical servers and network infrastructure is offered as a service. These services can be deployed throughout the internet (Public Cloud Computing), on the intranet infrastructure, (Private Cloud Computing), in a shared community of private networks (Community Cloud Computing), or a hybrid of both (Hybrid Cloud Computing). The service deployment models are [8]:

Platform as a Service refers to a kind of cloud of computing where the service provider only provides a platform or infrastructure upon which the customer uses to install his or her own applications (Williams, 2012). However in order to ensure that the platform provides supports a wider range of applications, it allows for the combination of servers and operating systems. Force.com and Google App Engine are some of the most popular platforms falling under this category.

PaaS: which stands for “Platform as a Service”. This type of cloud computing mostly used by programmers, application developers, or the companies who are in this type of business. PaaS provides set of tools and services to help developers code and run their programs without buying the expensive hardware and software layers. Most popular providers are: Google App Engine, Amazon Elastic Beanstalk, and Microsoft Azure OrangeScape.

c. Platform as a service or the PaaS: Such services allow the clients to utilize developmental environments to design software applications.

• Services can be obtained from diverse sources that cross international boundaries. Initial and ongoing costs can be reduced by the use of infrastructure services from a single vendor rather than maintaining multiple hardware facilities that often perform duplicate functions or suffer from incompatibility problems.

Cloud because of its wide range of applications it allows users to store data their data remotely in the cloud and enjoy the on-demand high quality cloud applications and reveal burden from the local storage, cost and maintenance. In this according to the user’s perspective, including both individuals (private) and enterprises like companies appealing the cloud benefits by storing data remotely into the cloud in a flexible on-demand manner and relief of the burden of storage management along with this he/she can also enjoy the universal data access which dependent geographical locations and avoidance of the capital expenditure, software, hardware and personnel management and maintenances and so on.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) are two cloud service options that allow you to hang on to your legacy applications. IaaS provides an environment for hosting the application along with infrastructure security. Your business is still responsible for controlling access to the application. With PaaS, the cloud provider patches the operating system and the platform but is not responsible for access management or patching of the application itself.

Cloud computing also encompasses Platform as a Service (PaaS). An example of this could be an entire organizational email platform that runs on the cloud structure. The PaaS is also commonly used interchangeably with

Cloud computing is a relatively new business model in the computing world. According to the official NIST definition, "cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction." The NIST definition lists five essential characteristics of cloud computing: on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity or expansion, and measured service. It also lists three "service models" (software, platform and infrastructure), and four "deployment models" (private, community, public and hybrid) that together categorize ways to deliver cloud services. The definition is intended to serve as a means for broad comparisons of cloud services and deployment strategies, and to provide a baseline for discussion from what is cloud computing to how to best use cloud computing.[1]

Software is ubiquitous in today's business world, where software applications can help us track shipments across multiple countries, manage large inventories, train employees, and even help us form good working relationships with customers. For decades, companies have run software on their own internal infrastructures or computer networks. In recent years, traditional software license purchases have begun to seem antiquated, as many vendors and customers have migrated to software as a service business model. Software as a service, or 'SaaS', is a software application delivery model by which an enterprise vendor develops a web-based software application, and then hosts and operates that application over the Internet for use by its customers. Customers do not need to buy software licenses or additional infrastructure equipment, and typically only pay monthly fees (also referred to as annuity payments) for using the software. It is important to note that SaaS typically encapsulates enterprise as opposed to consumer-oriented web-hosted software, which is generally known as web 2.0. According to a leading research firm, the SaaS market reached $6.3B in 2006; still a small fraction of the over $300B licensed software industry. However, growth in SaaS since 2000 has averaged 26% CAGR, while licensed software growth has remained relatively flat. Demand for SaaS is being driven by real business needs namely its ability to drive down IT-related costs,