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Anything as a service (XaaS) is a term that describes a broad category of services related to cloud computing and remote access. With cloud computing technologies, vendors offer companies different kinds of services over the web or similar networks. This idea started with the basic software as a service (SaaS) with cloud providers offering individual software applications. Other terms like infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and communications as a service (CaaS) were added as cloud services evolved. With so many different kinds of IT resources now delivered this way, XaaS is a somewhat ironic term for the proliferation of cloud services.
Anything as a service is also known as X as a service or everything as a service.
Techopedia Explains Anything as a Service
The core idea behind XaaS and other cloud services is that businesses can cut costs and get specific kinds of personal resources by purchasing services from providers on a subscription basis. Before the emergence of XaaS and cloud services, businesses often had to buy the licensed software products and install them on site. They had to buy hardware and link it together to create expanded networks. They had to do all security work on site, and they had to provide expensive server setups and other infrastructure for all of their business processes.
By contrast, with XaaS, businesses simply buy what they need, and pay for it as they need it. This allows businesses to drastically change service models over time. Using multi-tenant approaches, cloud services can provide a lot of flexibility. Concepts like resource pooling and rapid elasticity support these services where business leaders can simply add or subtract services as necessary. XaaS services are typically governed by something called a service level agreement (SLA), where client and vendor work closely together to understand how services will be provided.
