SAAS vs Cloud Computing [closed]

Closed. This question needs to be more focused. It is not currently accepting answers.

---

Want to improve this question? Update the question so it focuses on one problem only by editing this post.

开发者_开发知识库

Closed 8 years ago.

Improve this question

What is the difference b/n SAAS and Cloud Computing ? There are SAAS vendors (RackSpace) Cloud Vendors (Amazon, Microsoft , Google etc). So what is the difference between the services offered ?

---

XaaS, where X is some kind of service, describes a specific Service Model of Cloud Computing. Therefore, an XaaS designates the nature of the service delivered to a client. There are lots of arconyms describing such models, however a vast majority of sources focus on the following three:

1. Software as a Service (SaaS)
2. Platform as a Service (Paas)
3. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

You can also meet the term Hardware as a Service (Haas) which is closely related to #3. The obvious difference between SaaS and the rest, is that SaaS delivers software, and not a platform (for software development) or infrastructure. It can target the end-users, while PaaS and IaaS usually target developers or organizations that want to use them in order to create Saas (for internal purposes or for delivering software to users).

For more information about Cloud Computing taxonomies, please search for the following papers:

• Cloud Computing Use Case Discussion Group: Cloud Computing Use Cases White Paper v. 4.0
• Bhaskar Prasad Rimal et. al., A Conceptual Approach for Taxonomical Spectrum of Cloud Computing
• Lamia Youseff et. al., Toward a Unified Ontology of Cloud Computing.

The idea of SaaS is that the method of Software development and delivery deviates from the standard model. The Term SaaS existed even before the one of Cloud Computing. It's meaning can be highly confusing as the semantics look similar to plenty of web-service-based terms and architectures(e.g. SOA). Always bear in mind that SaaS describes a Service Model, and not some kind of architecture or methodology. Some good scientific sources about the origins of the term, as well as the evolution of it as a development and business model are the following:

• Keith Bennett et. al., Service-Based Software: The Future for Flexible Software
• Vidyanand Choudhary, Software as a Service: Implications for Investment in Software Development
• Hancheng Liao et. al., An Anatomy to SaaS Business Model Based on Internet.

---

You can run your own applications using the cloud, i.e. using someone others machine.

Or you can use someone others application running on his machine. This is SAAS.

---

Cloud computing can exist at various levels,

• SaaS: Software running in the cloud, e.g. Google Docs.
• PaaS: Platforms in the cloud, e.g. Google App Engine.
• IaaS: Infrastructure in the cloud, e.g. Amazon EC2.

---

SaaS is an architecture where you model your application based on services. In very broader terms, you integrate various services to achieve some output. These services may or may not be specifically developed for your application.

Cloud refers to the platform or infrastructure. When you use someone else' infra or platform, this can be called as cloud. You can deploy any application (SaaS or any other application) on the cloud.

On the other hand, you can have SaaS running on your local servers. It may be your intranet as well.

To conclude, SaaS is about architecture or model and cloud is about the infra/platform.

---

SaaS means 'Software as a Service', it is one kind of cloud computing

---

It is a fine line. Both are based on other people's servers and not on your location. So in that perspective you can say they are 'in the cloud'.

In my opinion the main difference between Cloud computing and SAAS is that - with Cloud Computing you pay based on what you consume and you have the possibility to scale up on demand (e.g. if your site suddenly experiences heavy traffic you temporarily add a couple of webservers that you literally pay per hour) - with SAAS you usually pay a fixed fee per user, no matter how much you use the solution.

---

I wouldn't reutter the points that have already been covered. Basically, cloud is a utility that is offered to users with the underlying concept which is common all across ie. 'Scalability'. So, even if you get to see number of variants of cloud for example SaaS, PaaS, IaaS etc. the base concept does not change. It's just how the service providers offer their services.

---

Well, as already said, cloud computing is the platform or environment and SaaS is a cloud computing service model, in this case software services. Other than PaaS (platform) and IaaS (infrastructure), there are also CaaS (communications as a service), NaaS (network as a service), MaaS (monitoring as a service), SaaS (storage as a service), DBaaS (database as a service). To see some concrete examples of SaaS products used by developers and also major IaaS and PaaS products, check out this list of cloud services. Also, check out this article for an interesting overview of the XaaS (anything as a service) concept in cloud computing. Cheers :)