Assignment 4: Virtualization and the Cloud Computing World

Due Week 9 and worth 200 points

The popularity and rapid adoption of Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) by a number of organizations has impacted internal IT / IS departments.
These services provide a virtualization infrastructure that covers data storage, networking, desktop
computing, mobile computing, and so on.

Write a two to three page paper in which you:

Describe at least three items that an organization’s IT / IS department should consider when an
organization’s strategy calls for the use of SaaS, PaaS, or IaaS.

1. Evaluate the ways that SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS are used to reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
and increase Return on Investment (ROI).
2. Examine the impact to the IT support personnel when an organization embarks on the strategy
stated in Question 1.
3. Analyze three considerations that the organization’s management should be aware of.
4. Examine three security issues that could arise from this type of an infrastructure.
5. Use at least three quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar websites do
not qualify as quality resources.

The model of software deployment which uses web for delivering the application is known as

SaaS. This software application usually runs on the computer which has internet facility rather

than only on the computer of customer as it is a web browser application. PaaS can be defined by

the set of tools and services which are usually used for doing coding and deployment of

application more rapidly and efficiently. Moreover, IaaS can be defined by the definition that it

is hardware and software which enables all these tasks by providing servers, network, OS and

Storage.

In the following some items are listed which should be considered by an organization at the time

of using SaaS, PaaS and IaaS.

 1. Quick Services: it is the ability of doing sign up and login for getting services without

any wait

2. Device Friendly: it is the ability of getting access to services by using multiple device

platforms like laptop, PC, mobile or IPad etc.

3. Utilization of Resources: multiple resources are utilized together for multiple customers.

In the following some ways in which Total Cost of Ownership TCO can be reduced with the help

of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS.

1. Minimize the cost of spending expenditure on buying and using hardware

2. Minimize the cost of spending expenditure on human resources HR.

3. Minimize the cost of spending expenditure on software and its development

Return on Investment ROI can be increased by the help of SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS by providing

multiple facilities of tenancy, different opportunities for open market and improvements in

competitive services. Some more ways are listed below which can be helpful in increasing ROI.

1. Improvement in increasing security

2. Wide range of services

3. Financial flexibility

When Information Technology department of organizations use to embark on the use of SaaS,

PaaS and IaaS then different opportunities are provided to end users for getting sign up and use

different facilities provided without doing any kind of long wait. Users also able to get access to

all the provided services through different platforms like Desktop, mobile and laptop etc. These

are just few examples quoted that describe the impact of Information Technology.
In the following some considerations are listed which should be kept in mind for the

management of organization.

1. Well aware about the existing architecture

 Well aware about the placement of IT architecture

 Make sure that organization has developed the architecture from the starting.

 Make sure about the concerns when company replace the existing architecture.

2. Well aware about Financial related problems

 Estimate advantages

 Estimate risk factors

 Estimate budget

3. Technical problems assessment

 At the time of architecture designing, keep remember to give access to all users

for their related tasks

 Define clear boundaries for different components of infrastructure

 Do pre planning for those software and applications which are enough

independent and strong in their working

In the following some security concerns and issues are listed below which can be occurred

because of this infrastructure.

1) Well managed regarding passwords: applications gives access to users for multiple

passwords set by them

2) Encryption of all data: it leads to slow performance of system because of encrypting all

the data
3) Dishonest users of the application: there are chances of getting instruction for services

which are not enough secure by some dishonest users of the applications
References
Khurana, S. and Verma, A. G., 2013. Comparison of Cloud Computing Service Models: SaaS, PaaS and
IaaS. International Joural of Electronics and Communication Techhnology, 4(3), pp. 1-4.

McKendrick, J., 2012. SaaS, PaaS and IaaS: three cloud models; three very different risks. [Online]
Available at: https://www.zdnet.com/article/saas-paas-and-iaas-three-cloud-models-three-very-
different-risks/
[Accessed 22 02 2019].

Support, R., 2017. Understanding the cloud computing stack: SaaS, PaaS, IaaS. [Online]
Available at: https://support.rackspace.com/how-to/understanding-the-cloud-computing-stack-saas-
paas-iaas/
[Accessed 22 02 2019].