A cloud service provider (CSP) is a company that offers infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a service (SaaS) or platform as a service (PaaS) to other businesses or individuals. Cloud providers are sometimes categorized by whether they deliver public cloud, private cloud or hybrid cloud services. Cloud service providers typically make their offerings available on-demand through a monthly subscription basis. Amazon is known for being a public cloud provider pioneer, with its 2006 offering of Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). The growing cloud market has seen rapid development of Amazon's cloud platform as well as the introduction of Microsoft's Azure platform and the Google Cloud Platform. All three major vendors are currently engaged in developing cloud-based services around emerging technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and containerization. How to vet a cloud service provider There are a number of things to think about when customers evaluate cloud service providers. Although the cost will usually be based on a per-use utility model, there are a number of other important things to consider, including the physical location of the provider's servers and the provider's ability to help their customers meet compliance mandates. Reliability is crucial if customers' data must be accessible. A typical cloud storage provider's service-level agreement (SLA), for example, specifies precise levels of service and the recourse or compensation that the user is entitled to should the provider fail to provide the service as described. Security is another important consideration. Organizations such as the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) offer certification to cloud providers that meet its criteria. The CSA's Trusted Cloud Initiative program was created to help cloud service providers develop industry-recommended, secure and interoperable identity, access and compliance management configurations and practices. Some cloud service providers have differentiated themselves by tailoring their offerings to a vertical market's requirements. Their cloud-based services might seek to deliver industry-specific functionality or help users meet certain regulatory requirements. For instance, several healthcare cloud products have been released that let healthcare providers store, maintain and back up personal health information (PHI). Types of cloud service providers IaaS providers - the cloud service provider delivers infrastructure components that would otherwise exist in an on-premises data center. These components could consist of servers, storage and networking as well as the virtualization layer, which the IaaS provider hosts in its own data center. Cloud service providers may also complement their IaaS products with services such as monitoring, security, load balancing and storage resiliency. SaaS providers - SaaS vendors offer a wide array of business technologies, such as productivity suites, customer relationship management (CRM) software and human resources management (HRM) software. Many traditional software vendors now sell cloud-based options of their on-premises software products. PaaS providers - PaaS vendors offer products that are commonly used in software development. In comparison to an IaaS provider, PaaS providers will add more of the application stack, such as operating systems and middleware, to the underlying infrastructure. |
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