{"id":4237,"date":"2026-11-06T06:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T06:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucartz.com\/blog\/what-are-cloud-services\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T22:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T22:05:10","slug":"what-are-cloud-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucartz.com\/blog\/what-are-cloud-services\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Cloud Services? IaaS, PaaS and SaaS Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cloud services are computing resources you rent over the internet instead of owning: servers, storage, databases, development platforms or finished applications. The provider runs the hardware in its data centres, you set things up yourself through a web panel or API, and you pay for what you use. They come in three main types. IaaS<\/strong> gives you virtual servers and storage, PaaS<\/strong> gives you a platform to run your code on, and SaaS<\/strong> gives you a ready-made application such as web-based email. The difference between them is how much of the stack you manage yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Terminal
With IaaS you get a server and see its resources yourself: CPU count and disk space on a lab VPS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What makes a service “cloud”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The definition most people refer to comes from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, Special Publication 800-145). It describes cloud computing as on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable resources “that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction”. NIST lists five essential characteristics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Characteristic<\/th>What it means in practice<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
On-demand self-service<\/td>You create a server or storage yourself, without emailing anyone<\/td><\/tr>
Broad network access<\/td>You use it over the network from any device<\/td><\/tr>
Resource pooling<\/td>The provider’s hardware serves many customers, and you usually pick a region rather than a machine<\/td><\/tr>
Rapid elasticity<\/td>You can add or remove capacity quickly, sometimes automatically<\/td><\/tr>
Measured service<\/td>Usage is metered and reported, typically for pay-per-use billing<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So “the cloud” is not a place. It is a way of delivering computing: someone else’s servers, rented through self-service and metered like a utility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IaaS, PaaS and SaaS: who manages what<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

NIST defines three service models. They differ in where the provider’s work stops and yours starts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n