Cloud Computing and SaaS: Why People Get Them Confused
January 16, 2014
Grazed from Techopedia. Author: Robert Springer.
While it’s not quite a chicken-or-the-egg conundrum, Software as a Service (SaaS) couldn’t exist without the cloud. Even so, if there are two terms people tend to confuse, it’s SaaS and cloud computing. They do have a lot in common, but they aren’t the same. Here we’ll take a look at their differences.
The Cloud Vs. SaaS
Loosely defined, the cloud could be used as a synonym for the Internet, if the Internet is defined as the worldwide internetwork of computers. Connections to the Internet (cable television, fiber-optic cables, DSL or wireless) that connect businesses and consumers to resources (email, websites, Twitter feeds) stored on servers are what make up the cloud…
SaaS, on the other hand, relies on the plumbing (wireless, fiber-optic cables) and hardware (routers, servers) of the cloud to provide services to customers via rentable or free software. So, while SaaS is distinct from the cloud, it wouldn’t exist without the services that the cloud provides. SaaS, therefore, could be described as a subset of the cloud. Where does the term cloud computing come from?…
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