Abstract

Cloud computing started a new paradigm in computing with its philosophy of “as a service”. Cost reduction on overall IT investment is a major driver to both the vendors and customers. Starting with offerings such as Software as-a-Service (Saas), Platform as-aservice (Paas) and Infrastructure as-a-service (Iaas), there now seems to be no boundaries to the imagination in coining acronyms denoting massive offerings of *aas. In this paper we shall review various offerings of “as a service” with real life examples, merits, demerits and the difference they can create in the overall way we see and feel the IT.