What is IaaS?

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a type of cloud computing service that provides virtualized computing resources over the internet. IaaS providers offer customers access to computing resources such as servers, storage, and networking equipment, on a pay-as-you-go basis. This allows customers to easily scale and adapt their IT infrastructure to changing business conditions without having to invest in expensive hardware and software upfront.

IaaS services typically include virtual machines (VMs), storage, and networking, as well as management and monitoring tools that help customers manage their resources. Some providers also offer additional services such as load balancing, firewalls, and VPNs.

IaaS is considered the foundation of cloud computing, as it provides the underlying infrastructure for other cloud services such as Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) to build upon. It allows organizations to outsource the maintenance and management of their IT infrastructure, so they can focus on developing and running their applications and services.

Examples of well-known IaaS providers include: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), IBM Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, and Oracle Cloud.