Cloud architecture has evolved rapidly in a short period time. Where there used to be one cloud, there are now multiple clouds and a seemingly endless variety of cloud services. This diversity enables IT teams to adopt multiple cloud resources and to run workloads on the infrastructure or service that will deliver the highest performance and lowest costs.

In addition to a choice between public, private and edge cloud resources, enterprises can choose between several types of cloud computing services that fall into IaaS, PaaS or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) categories.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service solutions provide servers, networking, storage, operating systems and other resources needed to run workloads. Infrastructure is made available through virtualization technology and can be consumed on a pay-as-you-go basis. Benefits of IaaS solutions include

• Rapid scalability with the ability to instantly provision or release computing resources as needed.
• Reduced costs, as enterprises pay only for the infrastructure they consume.
• Higher utilization of IT investments as there is no need for over-provisioning.
• Greater agility, providing enterprises with the ability to move quickly to take advantage of business opportunities.

Platform-as-a-Service solutions provide cloud-based environments for developing, testing, running and managing web-based and cloud-based applications. Enterprises get a state-of-the-art development environment without the complexity of buying, building or managing the underlying infrastructure. Benefits of PaaS solutions include:

• Faster results with less time required for coding, as PaaS offerings typically include built-in options for pre-coded components.
• Simpler collaboration thanks to a development environment that’s hosted in the cloud, making it easier for distributed teams to work together.
• Greater efficiency, with support for the full web application lifecycle within a single integrated environment.
• Reduced costs for agile development at scale.

The choice of IaaS vs. PaaS depends a great deal on the needs of specific workloads, and many organizations adopt both IaaS as well as PaaS and SaaS solutions. As a result, IT teams are forced to juggle a growing number of cloud resources that are increasing in complexity. Each platform requires a different skill set and offers a different management framework, adding significant cost and requiring more staff resources. And the difficulty of migrating workloads between IaaS and PaaS platforms or between public, private and edge cloud infrastructure can threaten productivity and limit innovation.

What’s needed is a hybrid cloud architecture with a consistent management framework that cuts through the complexity to provide a simple set of tools to manage all cloud resources. That’s where Dell Technologies can help.

Dell Technologies Cloud is a set of cloud infrastructure solutions that delivers a consistent operating model and simplified management across public clouds, private clouds and edge locations. With Dell Technologies Cloud, IT teams get a single operational hub for managing multi-cloud architecture and cloud services like IaaS and PaaS.

Dell Technologies Cloud includes:

• A turnkey platform, VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail, that’s built on a highly scalable HCI appliance that can support the most demanding workloads. VMware Cloud Foundation provides software-defined services for compute, storage, networking and security, along with cloud management to run traditional or containerized apps.
• Pre-tested infrastructure, delivering best-of-breed Dell Technology storage, compute and networking solutions. Infrastructure is tested for interoperability with VMware Cloud Foundation and delivered with extensive deployment guidance.
• Data Center-as-a-Service (DCaaS), a fully managed, subscription-based service that delivers cloud-like ease-of-use for on-premises workloads.
• Partner cloud support, extending hybrid clouds to the public cloud with support for AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and more than 4,200 additional cloud providers.
  
  

When managing hybrid cloud architecture and IaaS or PaaS services with Dell Technologies Cloud, IT teams can:

• Streamline management. Work with a common set of tools and consistent infrastructure to eliminate silos, improve efficiency and increase agility.
• Reduce cost. Optimize cost structures with more flexibility in deciding where workloads should be run.
• Simplify migration. Use familiar tools and models to easily move workloads to the cloud and between clouds while reducing errors and improving efficiency.
• Increase speed to market. Access elastic capacity to quickly scale up or down, accessing the right resources at the right time to accelerate innovation.
• Enhance security. Enforce security across all IT environments with a single security framework spanning public and private clouds.
• Scale on-demand. Extend IT environments and deliver resources as needed, without incurring additional complexity.
  
  

What is IaaS vs. PaaS?

IaaS, or Infrastructure-as-a-Service, provides on-demand access to IT infrastructure including compute, storage, networks and other resources required to run workloads. Businesses can provision and release IaaS resources quickly and easily as needed, paying for only the resources they consume.

PaaS, or Platform-as-a-Service, provides an on-demand environment where software teams can develop, test, run and manage applications. Like IaaS solutions, development teams pay only for the PaaS resources they use.

What are the benefits of IaaS vs. PaaS?

IaaS and PaaS solutions both enable organizations to be more agile by accessing highly scalable resources they need to meet demand. Both IaaS and PaaS offerings enable IT teams to provision only the resources they require, and to avoid the cost of procuring, deploying, managing and upgrading on-premises infrastructure. IaaS solutions offer the most flexible cloud computing model, while PaaS solutions provide services that are focused specifically on application development.