What is PaaS?
PaaS or Platform-as-a-Service is a development and distribution environment int he cloud. It allows developers to deliver simple apps and company programs in the cloud. Developers rent pretty much everything they need from infrastructure, tools and operative system to develop apps in the cloud. You rent what you need through your cloud supplier and pay for your use only and you can access your content as long as you have an internet connection. The pay for what you need model can help you avoid pricey license costs for each individual tool that you use. THe supplier can also manage the entire life cycle of the apps form creating, testing, distributing, managing and updating. This leaves you with only having to manage the programs or apps you develop, and the supplier takes care of the rest.
It’s primarily used to build apps in a faster and more efficient way where you don’t have to worry about building an entirely new platform and infrastructure. The only thing you really need is to code and test the app, the rest is up to the supplier. The solution also collects the life cycle in the same place, so you build, test, run, update, etc – all in the same environment. It’s also a more cost efficient alternative to IaaS because you don’t need to manage any machines on your own. Many suppliers also apply the pay for your use model.
What is included?
- Development tools – The suppliers usually offer a gerat set of tools needed to develop apps. They may vary slightly between suppliers but usually consists of source code, debugger, compiler and other necessary tools.
- BI- services(Business Intelligence)
- Middleware
- Operativsystem
- Databas
- Infrastruktur
Areas of use
The most common use of PaaS is a host environment for development, testing and deployment. But there are other great resons to use it such as;
- API development – Companies can use PaaS to develop, manage and deploy new APIs, micro services and interfaces.
- BI (Business Intelligence) – Tools in PaaS makes it possible for companies to analyze data and trends to make insightful decisions.
- Communication – PaaS allows developers to add important communication features like voice, video and chat into apps.
- Database – A PaaS supplier can deliver services that make it possible to set up and manage an organization’s database.
- IoT (Internet of Things) – This is predicted to play a key-role in PaaS use in the future, wiht support for a range of apps, environments and code.
Benefits
The benefits of PaaS are many but mainly boils down to being able to avoid big costs and complicated solutions in order to build apps. You don’t have to buy, configure or manage any hardware of software that is essential in building apps. Companies can therefore save time and moeny while they focus on development of the apps ans services they want to deliver to their customers. It allows developers to easily and swiftly built apps since they have access to an environment with predestined and pre-built components and infrastructure. Developers have access to tools, tempaltes and code libraries – all of which can drastically reduce the development process.
The growing variation of mobile units makes it important to build solutions that work on different units to take part of market opportunities. Most suppliers give you the ability to develop for several platforms and units. To build an app that works across several channels and units is a great and cost-efficient way that enables scalability.
Cons
One of the drawbacks of PaaS is that it may be tricky to switch supplier once the app is running. It’s also possible that different suppliers don’t support the same language, library and APIs to build and deploy apps. And even though it is possible to switch supplier, it can be time consuming and expensive. it may also result in the app having to be rebuilt or changed in order to fit the new platform. This is why it’s crucial to do your research when picking the right supplier.
Another thing that’s importan to note is that security may be a drawback. The supplier usually handles and stores some or all of the app’s data as well as code. In many cases it’s also stored in a third-party’s database. This may make it hard to access or test security measures. Make sure that you are aware of a supplier’s security measures before making a decision.
The future
The paradigm shift to the cloud is moving at a steady pace and PaaS is becoming a standard in app-development. The next generation of PaaS will be more available to the non-technical and non-programmers, while still allowing them to build state of the art solutions. To be able to use a platform that supplies everything from infrastructure, tools, components, etc – will be just as normal as having a phone.
Cloud integration has however been a set-back for many companies moving to the cloud. This has resulted in a need for reliable and safe integration solutions. And while it’s still in the woodworks, suppliers have started to include integration into their repertoire called iPaaS. This consists of a integration solution that is meant to build and implement integrations in the cloud and between the cloud and companies. With iPaaS developers can build their own integration flows that connect different apps in the cloud together, or with on-premise solutions.
aPaaS is predicted to be the next level of PaaS and consists of a more full-fledged versionw here the entire architecture for development coupled with tools will be immensely simplifies. This will make it more accessible to beginners to build apps without prior knowledge or individual parts. This makes it possible for companies to solely focus on building their solutions without dealing with technicalities.