X as a service, often abbreviated XaaS and rendered in acronyms ending in aaS, is a business model in which the use of a product is offered as a subscription-based service rather than sold as an artifact the customer owns and maintains outright. It originated from the software-as-a-service concept that emerged in the 2010s alongside the growth of cloud computing, and the template has since expanded to many other offerings within information technology and beyond it, with XaaS used as a general term meaning anything as a service. The opposite of running something as a service is operating it as an on-premise asset, such as on-premises software, or paying for it as a lump sum up front.
Facts
Core MechanismAnything as a service offers the use of a product as a subscription-based service rather than selling it as an artifact the customer owns and maintains, with the provider retaining ownership and upkeep in exchange for a recurring fee; it is the generalized template that the software as a service concept established for information technology offerings. 1 Partially Attested
Origin YearSource describes the generalized as-a-service template emerging in the 2010s with the advent of cloud computing rather than naming one precise year; 2010 is used as the decade anchor. Connections
Associated With
Anything as a Service (XaaS) generalizes the cloud delivery approach that Software as a Service established first, extending the same pay-for-access-rather-than-ownership pattern to hardware, platforms and other capabilities.
Sources
1. Wikipedia, As a Service
WikipediaLead section, first sentence
"x as a service" (rendered as *aaS in acronyms) is a phrasal template for any business model in which a product use is offered as a subscription-based service rather than as an artifact owned and maintained by the customer.
Lead section, third sentence
Originating from the software-as-a-service concept that appeared in the 2010s with the advent of cloud computing, the template has expanded to numerous offerings in the field of information technology and beyond it.
Lead section
The converse of conducting or operating something "as a service" is doing the same using "on-premise" assets (such as on-premises software) or lump sum investments.
View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.