In a nutshell, it is a delivery model that offers all the necessary tools needed by Enterprises to build, deploy and scale up their in-house applications and services – over the Internet or through private connectivities. If software as a service gives users applications on tap, IaaS gives Enterprises the power to deploy those software applications on the Internet as well.

IaaS offers flexibility to today’s fast-changing business needs. It enables hosting of all these applications for deployment. These applications can scale easily, when more end-users are required to access these applications to meet their business needs.

Besides cost savings, Enterprises can move faster in a project, bypassing the usual lag that bogs down with hardware or software delivery lead time.

These applications can also be made highly-customised, so each company tailors them to its needs. Access can be done via the public internet or private leased circuits.

As part of the SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture), IaaS will be a part of the future, where applications are delivered over the Internet on-demand. This is different from the current situation, where users buy "static" software, install them on their computers and update with patches.

As more companies turn towards software- and computing-on demand, the need for online development of applications will drive the takeup of IaaS.

At the core are SingTel and some world leading technology providers, which together offer both the number-crunching power as well as storage facilities needed by enterprises.

Whether it is compute power as a service, using an X86 or IA64 CPU, or storage as a service, with a SAN-based solution powered by fibre connectivity, Alatum has the hardware and the expertise.