Not all businesses have the budget and in-house IT resources to manage servers, hardware, networking equipment, and data storage. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) solutions help such businesses by delivering all the required physical infrastructure components and computing resources via the cloud.

IaaS solutions allow end user organizations to store and manage their computing resources, such as data and networks, on the cloud. They can be deployed on private, public, community, or hybrid cloud.

There are various IaaS solutions available on the market, but choosing the right one for your organization can be time-consuming. To help you, we've created a buyers guide that has everything you need to know to make the right purchase decision.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

What are IaaS solutions?
Common features of IaaS solutions
What type of buyer are you?
Benefits of IaaS solutions
Key considerations when selecting IaaS solutions
Market trends to understand

What are IaaS solutions?

An IaaS platform is a type of cloud computing solution that delivers on-demand data storage and network resources over the internet. Most IaaS solutions offer the pay-as-you-go model, where businesses can use and pay for resources as needed.

In an IaaS setup, end user organizations can’t control or manage the underlying cloud infrastructure, but they have complete control over their data, networks, operating systems, and any other deployed applications. Some solutions also offer users control over the selection of networking components, such as host-based firewalls.

Management of data storage and networking in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (Source)

Common features of IaaS solutions

Different vendors offer different features in their IaaS solutions. Selecting the right solution is easier when you know what the most common features are and what they do. Here's a look at some of the common features of these solutions.

Feature	Description
Data migration	Allows users to move data, applications, operating systems, and any other business elements to an IaaS cloud environment.
Configuration management	Lets users manage (increase or decrease) data storage as required. Some solutions allow users to pick networking components, such as security firewalls or network operating systems, of their choice.
Performance monitoring	Helps users remotely monitor their virtual environments (consisting of dedicated servers, data, and networks) to ensure that they’re performing optimally.
Load balancing	Allows users to evenly distribute the network load (incoming network traffic) across a group of backend servers to improve data utilization, facilitate data scalability, and ensure high data availability.
Log access control	Lets users view the list of all files requested and accessed on the server. Users can also configure role-based access control for the logs.

What type of buyer are you?

Before you start evaluating IaaS solutions, you'll want to know which buyer category you belong to. Most buyers belong to one of the below categories.

Small and midsize businesses: These buyers include organizations with up to 500 employees and an in-house IT team of two to five members. Compared with large businesses, they have smaller data sets, fewer applications to host, and lower storage requirements. They can opt for an IaaS platform that offers easy data migration and setup as well as features such as configuration management and performance monitoring to monitor the IT infrastructure.

Large enterprises: These buyers include large enterprises with more than 500 employees. They have a fully functional in-house team of IT experts to manage large volumes of business data. These businesses have more applications to host and higher data storage requirements. Therefore, they are on the lookout for advanced IaaS features such as load balancing and log access control.

Benefits of IaaS solutions

While some of the benefits of an IaaS solution may be clear from our discussion above, we've listed the most notable ones in this section.

Reduces costs: An IaaS solution significantly reduces the capital expense and ongoing costs associated with maintaining data centers, storage servers, networks, and other infrastructure resources in traditional IT setups. By hosting infrastructure and network components on the cloud, it reduces costs for businesses.

Offers flexibility: As businesses scale, they outgrow their existing networking and infrastructure resources and have to spend more on new purchases. With the IaaS model, businesses can initially subscribe to only the resources they require. As their needs grow, they can access additional elements and pay for only what they’re using.

Key considerations when selecting IaaS solutions

Listed below are some important points to consider before you purchase an IaaS solution.

Mobile app availability: Check if the IaaS solution you’re planning to purchase is available as a mobile app on iOS and Android smartphones or tablets. Mobile-ready software will allow you to access your data remotely and securely from any location. In addition, most mobile apps can work offline and sync data later when you go online.

Customer support: Check out the type of support offered by your shortlisted IaaS provider: 24/7, 24/5, or only during business hours. Also, ask about the available support channels, such as email, phone, or live chat. Efficient customer support services will help you quickly fix any data storage or networking issues without facing downtime.

Market trends to understand

Here’s a recent trend in the IaaS solutions market that you should be aware of.

Cost-effective architecture to drive cloud IaaS adoption: All legacy applications migrating to public cloud IaaS would require optimization to become cost-effective. In line with this trend, cloud IaaS providers are continuously focusing on strengthening their optimization capabilities to help businesses choose the most cost-effective architecture for achieving their required business performance.

Note: The application selected in this article is an example to show a feature in context and isn’t intended as an endorsement or a recommendation. It has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.

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