(Fill in the Blank)-As-a-Service

IaaS, SaaS and PaaS are the obvious as-a-service offerings, but there are plenty of others. In fact, just about every letter of the alphabet has an “as a service.”

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A

Access as a service

Access as a service, or AaaS, is related to cloud security and specifically how users gain access to it, Access-smart.com explains.

AaaS can also mean authentication as a service, which also refers to cloud security, and a single- or two-factor authentication system to access cloud data.

B

Backup as a service

Businesses such as Symantec and Verizon allow service providers to offer backup as a service.

C

Compute as a service

AT&T offers compute as a service, meaning computing capacity on an as-needed basis for enterprises.

D

Database as a service

Forrester noted the term in a 2008 report.

It can also mean desktop as a service, which Dell offers.

E

Email as a service

Also known as webmail, of course, the federal government experimented with using the term.

EaaS can also refer everything as a service, which is how HP describes its cloud strategy.

F

Firewall as a service

Coined to describe cloud security, as the Trend Cloud Security blog explains.

G

Google platform as a service

ZDNet has a reference guide for the difference between the Google PaaS and Amazon’s model.

H

Hardware as a service

An early term for infrastructure as a service, now offered by providers such as AWS. Some providers still use the term, though, such as Skyrope and Equus.

I

Infrastructure as a service

A variety of providers use the term IaaS.

J

Java platform as a service

A type of application development, as IBM describes here.

K

Knowledge as a service

Used to describe a crowd-sourcing model, as Silicon Republic blog describes. Salesforce.com, the major SaaS provider, also describes KaaS in its cloud offering.

L

Log on as a service

Log on as a service can either refer to a Windows command or it can refer to cloud security.

M

Management as a service

Management as a service can take many forms, including cloud security, as described by Verizon.

Also, you might see marketing as a service, which is just that, explains the CRM Search blog.

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N

Network as a service

Cisco used the term to describe its open stack offering.

O

Open platform as a service

Open platform as a service is a way to describe PaaS offerings that are open source, as described here.

P

Platform as a service

Used to describe a cloud-based application development and testing model.

Q

Query as a Web service

A product by SAP used by business enterprises.

R

Robot as a service

RaaS is a term used by Intel in a white paper to describe service-oriented robotics computing.

S

Software as a service

A widely used term to describe cloud-based software that is accessed via the network.

T

Testing as a service

HP offers testing as a service for application developers to test their research.

U

User interface as a service

Salesforce.com announced in 2007 its user interface as a service model, which it describes here.

V

Video surveillance as a service

Video surveillance as a service is an emerging trend in the SaaS market, as a CSO report explains.

W

Website as a service

A number of providers offer website as a service.

X

X as a service

As the blog SearchCloudComputing.com describes it, XaaS means anything as a service.

Y

You as a service

As this study points out, a variety of cloud-based initiatives can be classified as you as a service.

Z

Zebra as a service

Not yet an enterprise IT term, sales firm Selling to Zebras is attempting to make it one.

(Note: This list is not meant to be all-inclusive; if you have suggested additions to the list, send them to BButler@nww.com.)

Network World staff writer Brandon Butler covers cloud computing and social media. He can be reached at BButler@nww.com and found on Twitter at @BButlerNWW.