Microsoft 365 FundamentalsDescribe cloud conceptsMedium
A university needs to provide its students with access to a wide range of specialized software applications for various courses, such as CAD, statistical analysis, and programming IDEs. They want to ensure students can access these applications from any device, without needing to install them locally, and minimize the university's IT management overhead. Which cloud service type is the best fit?
- AInfrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
- BServerless Computing
- CSoftware as a Service (SaaS)
- DPlatform as a Service (PaaS)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Software as a Service (SaaS)
Software as a Service (SaaS) provides ready-to-use applications over the internet, eliminating the need for local installation and reducing IT management overhead, which perfectly matches the university's requirement for students to access specialized software without local installation.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. IaaS provides virtual machines and infrastructure, requiring the university to manage OS and application installations.
- B. Serverless computing executes code snippets, not full-fledged end-user applications.
- D. PaaS provides a development environment for building applications, not ready-to-use end-user software.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
A cloud service model where the cloud provider hosts and manages a complete application, making it available to end-users over the internet.
- Users primarily interact with the application via a web browser or client.
- No local installation or management of infrastructure, OS, or middleware.
- Examples include Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Gmail.
Memory trick: SaaS: Software as a Service, ready to use, no fuss.