# Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

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Infrastructure as a service, or IaaS, is a [cloud computing](https://glossary.cncf.io/cloud-computing/) service model that 
offers [physical](https://glossary.cncf.io/bare-metal-machine/) or [virtualized](https://glossary.cncf.io/virtualization/) 
compute, storage, and network resources on-demand on a pay-as-you-go model. 
Cloud providers own and operate the hardware and software, 
available to consumers in public, private, or hybrid cloud deployments.

## Problem it addresses

In traditional on-premise setups, organizations often struggle with effective computing resource usage. 
Data centers have to be built for potential peak demand, even if it's only needed 1% of the time. 
During lower demand, these compute resources are idle. 
And, if the workload spikes beyond the expected demand, 
there is a shortage of computing resources to process the workload. 
This lack of scalability leads to increased costs and ineffective resource usage.

## How it helps

With IaaS organizations can avoid purchasing and maintaining compute and data center space for their applications. 
An on-demand infrastructure allows them to rent compute resources as needed and 
defer large capital expenditures, or [CAPEX](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_expenditure), 
while giving them the flexibility to scale up or down.

IaaS reduces the upfront costs of experimenting or trying a new application and 
provides facilities to rapidly deploy infrastructure. 
A cloud provider is an excellent option for development or test environments, 
which helps developers experiment and innovate.

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- Canonical URL: https://glossary.cncf.io/infrastructure-as-a-service/
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- Last modified November 30, 2023: ` chore: remove duplicated lines ` ([e57ed31](https://github.com/cncf/glossary/commit/e57ed3109d8084268bac253d77a19e799d83bcf9))
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