Overview of the data center and the cloud (IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS)

Over the years, the data center has changed quite significantly as it relates to the hardware our services run on. Most notably, the operating systems, versions, and virtualization of those services have recently shifted to running fully on cloud-based technologies. In the past, a traditional enterprise data center typically consisted of physical mainframes to store and access information. Data centers during these times were sometimes located on location or at a separate facility under the management of the organization. As the technology evolved, there was a shift from the mainframe to server-based data centers. This is where the Windows Server family became widely adopted and grew in popularity.

Moving beyond standard hardware-based server models is where virtualization technology entered the picture. The ability to run many servers on minimal physical hardware changed the dynamics of the data center significantly...