Which “As a Service” Platform is Right for You?

The “as a service” technology industry has been growing rapidly over the past few years. Being able to buy a service-based solution has given organizations the much needed option of outsourcing tasks that are too large, complicated or expensive to handle in-house or simply not a business priority worth focusing on when there’s a simpler option.

This space represents a wide range of needs, from giving teams a simple base to build off of to fully managed outsourced solutions. While this range of options is good in the sense that “as a service” solutions can fit just about any level of need, it can cause confusion for businesses trying to decide what exactly they need and the value each level of service provides.

To help clarify the issue, we broke down some of the more popular as a service solutions on the market today, in the specific light of implementing virtual desktops. We looked at:

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS)
• Software as a Service (SaaS)
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
• Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

When researching virtual desktop solutions, you’re likely to run into all of these options, so it’s important to fully understand what each option provides, what’s left to do in house and how well the service fits the criteria of being an appropriate solution for your desktop virtualization.

IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)

This model includes the physical hardware, software, data center and hosted network components. The software includes a hypervisor and typically a portal which presents part of the physical hardware as virtual resources. Users pay for the right to use these virtual resources and can do whatever they want with it. For example, you can build an environment to host a website, support internal IT systems or create an environment for virtual desktops. IaaS is a flexible model that requires the user to roll up their sleeves and do a lot of the work themselves.

Things to consider:

• Do you have a robust in-house IT team to implement and oversee the project?
• Who is going to run the applications that you deploy and monitor the environment to ensure uptime?
• Support typically comes in the form of web based Knowledge Base articles.
• You are responsible for building your environment and the security and compliance of that environment. Security expertise is needed or you run the risk of building your environment in a non-secure way or in a way that could be hard to add security and/or compliance components to at a later date.
• IaaS typically offers a generalized architecture for general use cases. Higher performance environments may be available…at an additional cost.

Who is this good for?

• Teams with the in-house expertise and 24/7 staffing to immediately respond to security and other events.
• Teams with an interest in building and maintaining their own environments.
• General use environments. Although IaaS is flexible, it does have its limits and might not be the best fit for complex environments.

PaaS (Platform as a Service)

This model is the hardest to define. Although there are other examples, PaaS is commonly geared toward developers. PaaS includes the infrastructure layer and moves “up the stack” to provide additional services such as required middleware to develop and run your environment. Middleware can include development languages and dependencies, and database services – all ready to go out of the box. This results in a framework, or “platform,” in which you can build, run and maintain your own application.

Things to consider: 

• PaaS can offer a high-level programming environment with reduced complexity and maintenance required from the customer, however it can be limited to a specific feature set.

 Who is this good for?

• Organizations that have a core competency in software development.

SaaS (Software as a Service)

SaaS is defined as a cloud delivered application. The user does not have to develop the application or install the application locally on every desktop PC or laptop – the application is available to everyone with an internet connection and credentials to login. The user is responsible for items such as managing the application, user access to the application, configuration settings and any integration into other environments. The service provider manages the back-end responsibilities like data storage, adding new features and functions, and upgrades and updates.

Things to consider:

• SaaS solutions typical need an internal owner or admin to ensure proper integration, use and maintenance.
• Not all SaaS solutions integrate with each other. SaaS heavy organizations should identify which are most important and build from that base.

Who is this good for?

• SaaS has a strong use case in many businesses by making core applications available from anywhere.
• Organizations that have identified business needs that could benefit from an outsourced solution.
• Highly collaborative, mobile or geographically disperse teams.

VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure)

Parallels can be drawn from IaaS to VDI. VDI is usually deployed on infrastructure that was specifically designed for virtual desktops, however the user again has to roll up their sleeves and do a lot – or even all – of the work themselves.

A VDI service integrator may do the work of setting up the environment, but the user has the on-going task of managing it. However, it’s also common for organizations to implement in-house VDI without the use of a service. If your company decides to build VDI entirely in-house, you’re responsible for the entire system from start to finish, including selecting the hardware and implementing the infrastructure.

Things to consider:

• You are responsible for performance tuning. Desktop configuration decisions – and any associated performance implications – are your responsibility.
• You are responsible for things like access controls, change management (policies/procedures).
• If the service provider does anything around compliance, they typically cover only a small portion – usually around physical access controls to the environment.
• Depending on the provider, you may be responsible for relevant licensing.

Who is this good for?

• Businesses that want central, in-house management of their users’ desktops.
• Businesses that spend a lot of time provisioning desktops/laptop and would like to minimize this task in order to focus on more business-oriented initiatives.

DaaS (Desktop as a Service)

Similar to SaaS, DaaS also delivers a cloud application, in this case, the application is a desktop. DaaS is your full service option, a fully managed desktop that is securely delivered over the internet.

There are a lot of components (firewalls, connection brokers, authentication servers) that are required before a desktop can be delivered to an end user. In this model, the service provider builds, configures (performance tunes), and maintains the entire environment. In some instances, the service provider also handles desktop-related compliance requirements.

Things to consider:

• The service provider is responsible for both uptime and desktop performance.

• It is easier for a single provider to troubleshoot should an issue arise because they are responsible for and have visibility into the entire stack (hardware, software, network and up to the desktop).

• Not all DaaS providers offer the same level of service. Is support included, or does it come at an additional cost?
• Not all DaaS providers offer a compliant solution, and those that do can cover varying levels of responsibility. For example, some solutions that claim compliance actually mean THEY are compliant, not the solution customers are buying. Get a clear understanding of what is being offered.
• DaaS service providers should have a customized infrastructure, designed from the ground up to be optimized to deliver high performing cloud delivered desktops. Be sure to ask your provider if the infrastructure was designed specifically for virtual desktops or was it designed for a general,  non-specific use case.
• You can also contract for the Operating System licensing from your provider as a predictable monthly cost, eliminating the need to make expensive Operating System Licensing purchases.

Who is this good for?

• Organizations that want a full-service option and do not want to build or manage their virtual desktops initiative.
• Businesses that do not see business value in managing desktops.
• Companies without the in-house expertise to build or manage their own virtual desktop infrastructure.
• Organizations that would like to outsource desktop-related compliance initiatives. DaaS soluitons can make compliance programs more successful and audits more manageable.

Making Your Decision

There are of course many considerations when evaluating which “as-a-service” offering is right for your needs. This high level overview should help you narrow your focus and better understand which platforms to evaluate, and which to leave for another project.