Everything as a service
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Everything as a service (EaaS,[1] XaaS[2], *aaS[3]) is a concept of being able to call up re-usable, fine-grained software components across a network.[4] It is a subset of cloud computing. The most common and successful example is software as a service (SaaS), but the as a service moniker has been associated with many other functions including communication, infrastructure and platforms, most of which are core components of cloud computing. With extremely low barriers to entry (often accessible for free or with a personal credit card), the offerings were adopted by consumers and small businesses before pushing into mid-sized and large enterprise space.[5] This is the primary differentiator from other Service Oriented Architecture offerings.
A number of vendors including Google, Microsoft, Salesforce[5] and Hewlett Packard[6][7] have been associated with the "everything as a service" trend.[8]
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[edit] Key characteristics
Offerings tagged with the as a service suffix have a number of common attributes, including:
- Low barriers to entry is a common theme amongst offerings, with services typically being available to or specifically targeting consumers and small businesses[5].
- Little or no capital expenditure as infrastructure is owned by the provider.
- Massive scalability is also common, though this is not an absolute requirement and many of the offerings have yet to achieve large scale.
- Multitenancy enables resources (and costs) to be shared amongst many users.
- Device independence[1] enables users to access systems regardless of what device they are using (eg PC, mobile).
- Location independence[1] allows users remote access to systems.
[edit] Examples
- Communication as a service CaaS
- Infrastructure as a service IaaS
- Software as a service SaaS
- Platform as a service PaaS
