What is the primary feature of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)?

The primary feature of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is the provision of virtualized computing resources over the internet. IaaS offers users foundational computing resources, such as virtual machines, storage, and networking, on a pay-as-you-go basis. This flexibility allows organizations to scale their infrastructure according to their needs without the requirement of managing physical hardware. Users are primarily responsible for the operating systems and applications hosted on these virtual machines, while the IaaS provider manages the underlying physical hardware, networking, and storage infrastructure.

This model provides significant advantages, such as reduced capital expenditure and increased scalability, as businesses can quickly adjust their resource consumption based on demand. While other cloud service models focus on delivering software applications (like Software as a Service) or development platforms (like Platform as a Service), IaaS specifically focuses on providing the infrastructure needed to run those applications and systems virtually.