IaaS, SaaS and PaaS are the obvious as-a-service offerings, but there are plenty of others. In fact, just about every letter of the alphabet has an "as a service."
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A
Access as a service
Access as a service, or AaaS, is related to cloud security and specifically how users gain access to it, Access-smart.com explains.
AaaS can also mean authentication as a service, which also refers to cloud security, and a single- or two-factor authentication system to access cloud data.
B
Backup as a service
Businesses such as Symantec and Verizon allow service providers to offer backup as a service.
C
Compute as a service
AT&T offers compute as a service, meaning computing capacity on an as-needed basis for enterprises.
D
Database as a service
Forrester noted the term in a 2008 report.
It can also mean desktop as a service, which Dell offers.
E
Email as a service
Also known as webmail, of course, the federal government experimented with using the term.
EaaS can also refer everything as a service, which is how HP describes its cloud strategy.
F
Firewall as a service
Coined to describe cloud security, as the Trend Cloud Security blog explains.
G
Google platform as a service
ZDNet has a reference guide for the difference between the Google PaaS and Amazon's model.
H
Hardware as a service
An early term for infrastructure as a service, now offered by providers such as AWS. Some providers still use the term, though, such as Skyrope and Equus.
I
Infrastructure as a service
A variety of providers use the term IaaS.
J
Java platform as a service
A type of application development, as IBM describes here.
K
Knowledge as a service
Used to describe a crowd-sourcing model, as Silicon Republic blog describes. Salesforce.com, the major SaaS provider, also describes KaaS in its cloud offering.
L
Log on as a service
Log on as a service can either refer to a Windows command or it can refer to cloud security.
M
Management as a service
Management as a service can take many forms, including cloud security, as described by Verizon.
Also, you might see marketing as a service, which is just that, explains the CRM Search blog.
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N
Network as a service
Cisco used the term to describe its open stack offering.
O
Open platform as a service
Open platform as a service is a way to describe PaaS offerings that are open source, as described here.
P
Platform as a service
Used to describe a cloud-based application development and testing model.
Q
Query as a Web service
A product by SAP used by business enterprises.
R
Robot as a service
RaaS is a term used by Intel in a white paper to describe service-oriented robotics computing.
S
Software as a service
A widely used term to describe cloud-based software that is accessed via the network.
T
Testing as a service
HP offers testing as a service for application developers to test their research.
U
User interface as a service
Salesforce.com announced in 2007 its user interface as a service model, which it describes here.
V
Video surveillance as a service
Video surveillance as a service is an emerging trend in the SaaS market, as a CSO report explains.
W
Website as a service
A number of providers offer website as a service.
X
X as a service
As the blog SearchCloudComputing.com describes it, XaaS means anything as a service.
Y
You as a service
As this study points out, a variety of cloud-based initiatives can be classified as you as a service.
Z
Zebra as a service
Not yet an enterprise IT term, sales firm Selling to Zebras is attempting to make it one.
(Note: This list is not meant to be all-inclusive; if you have suggested additions to the list, send them to BButler@nww.com.)
Network World staff writer Brandon Butler covers cloud computing and social media. He can be reached at BButler@nww.com and found on Twitter at @BButlerNWW.