The hosting of IT infrastructures is often referred to as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). In an IaaS hosting model the hosting provider supplies a basic infrastructure to serve a client-specific IT environment. An IaaS offering normally includes computing resources, storage services, network connectivity and a virtualized platform, so commodity IT services can be outsourced to the hosting provider’s data centers.
Within an IaaS hosting offering all the resources are provided as a cloud based service, often equipped with a seamless API access to the IT infrastructure. If you’re a company searching for an IT infrastructure with low upfront investment levels, with on-demand availability and a dynamic scalability, an IaaS hosting solution will probably provide the right fit. Don’t go for this option when regulatory compliance impedes outsourcing of data storage at arbitrary locations, or in case the highest levels of performance are required – then opt for a dedicated hosting solution instead.
