IaaS is Changing IT as You Know It

According to IDC, the fastest growing sector in the new cloud IT market is Infrastructure as a service (IaaS). This consists of providing users virtual machines and other resources to manage tasks over the Internet, and it's scalable to the user's needs. Additional services offered over the cloud include firewalls, load balancers, IP addresses, virtual-machine disk image library, raw (block) and file-based storage, virtual local area networks (VLANs), and software bundles. With IaaS, the cost will reflect the resources allocated and consumed, making it an attractive option for businesses wanting to take advantage of these services without having to purchase and maintain their own IT infrastructure.

Who Offers IaaS?
Amazon pioneered IaaS back in 2006 with its EC2 offering, and Google got into the business in 2012 with Google Compute Engine. Other major players in the IaaS market are IBM, Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon, HP, Virtustream, and GoGrid. Basically, any business offering cloud services over an Internet connection originating from their IT infrastructure qualifies as an IaaS business; this includes local IT companies like k_Street Consulting, LLC.

What Makes IaaS Profitable?
You would think having some or all of your mission critical IT infrastructure offsite would be more costly, but that is far from reality. For starters, by using very carefully monitored hardware and software specifically tuned for the job, data centers are able to get more out of less, while having the resources to scale for you without major overhauls. With virtualization, computer resources (CPU, RAM, & storage) can be divided out as needed. Managing the hardware and software is more cost effective because it's on site and the technicians are right around the corner. If a hard drive needs to be swapped out nobody has to pay for a truck to be rolled out.

The Future is Bright for IaaS
With all of these options becoming more readily available for users, businesses, and vendors at a cheaper rate, the IT landscape is changing dramatically and rapidly. Currently, the possibilities to streamline your operations with IaaS seem endless. With IaaS, you can manage content for clients, processing large amounts of data for quick analytics, get rapid IP assignments, and these tasks are just scratching the surface. How will your company utilize this emerging IaaS market and its tools?

IaaS is a driving force in the future of IT and plays a big part in the $100 billion cloud market projected for 2014. The need for big data analytics is set to triple in three years, making this a great time to incorporate these cloud services into your business so that you can stay competitive and save on IT expenses. To learn more about how different cloud services can help your business, call k_Street Consulting, LLC at (202) 640-2737.