IaaS
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) is a cloud computing model where a provider rents out fundamental computing resources like virtual machines, storage, and networking over the internet.
How it works
Instead of buying and maintaining physical servers, you rent these resources on-demand and pay only for what you use. This gives businesses the flexibility to scale their IT infrastructure up or down instantly without major capital investment. It matters because it forms the foundational, self-service layer of cloud computing, upon which platforms and software are built.
Examples
- 1.A startup hosting its website and database on Amazon EC2 virtual machines.
- 2.A company using Microsoft Azure's storage services to back up its critical data.
- 3.A development team quickly spinning up a test environment with Google Compute Engine to run an application.