Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: A Step ...

Database-as-a-Service 41
instance, a shared disk in a storage-as-a-service solution would be of high
value for a virtual business with a distributed employee base. It would save
on hardware and maintenance and would provide easy sharing of disk space
as well. However, if the employees or applications are in the same building,
the benefits of storage-as-a-service versus on-premise storage solutions are
not as compelling.
Database-as-a-Service
Database-as-a-service provides the ability to leverage the services of a remotely
hosted database, sharing it with other users and having it logically
function as if the database were local. You can self-provision a database, create
the tables, load the data, and access the data using the interface provided,
all on demand and via cloud computing (see Figure 3.3).
Like storage-as-a-service, database-as-a-service provides access to a resource
that you neither own nor host and thus saves you the hardware, software,
and maintenance costs. With the self-provisioning capabilities, you can
Enterprise Application
Internet
Database-as-a-Service
Provider
Data
Data
Figure 3.3 Database-as-a-service allows you to access enterprise-grade databases
over the Internet.