We get a lot of customers asking "What is the Cloud?" and "How does WorkPlace compare to other Cloud based products such as Amazon EC2 or Google Apps?". To answer the first question, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides a concise and specific definition of The Cloud or cloud computing:
Cloud computing is a model for enabling 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.
Based on this definition there are a lot of products that can be classified into cloud computing or cloud-based services - which leads us to the answer to the second question. There are three categories that these cloud-based services fall into:
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
- These services provide the underlying storage, network and computing infrastructure need to host applications and data services over the Internet.
- End users are responsible for administration and maitenance of any operating system and applications that are installed.
- Examples of IaaS providers are: Amazon EC2, RackSpace and Brocade
Software as a Service (SaaS)
- These services provide access to applications and data over the Internet.
- The service provider is responsible for application upgrades, data backups and ensuring availability.
- Examples of SaaS providers are: Salesforce.com, Google Apps, and Dropbox
Desktop as a Service (DaaS)
- These services provide the entire technology stack from storage, network and computing infrastrucutre as well as the operating system and application delivery.
- Ongoing administration and maintenance of the stack is performed by the DaaS provider.
- Examples of DaaS providers are: Virsage WorkPlace
Stay tuned to see how WorkPlace compares to Amazon Web Service, Google Docs, and Office 365.
