Should you choose Platform as a service for cloud computing applications

Businesses today are exploring the possibilities of cloud-based IT services due to the many benefits it provides—flexibility and accessibility being the most prominent ones. Platform as a Service is one such cloud-based service that is attracting attention from organizations worldwide. Through PaaS, businesses can access tools developers can use to build, test, run, and host web applications. Let’s understand PaaS in more detail and learn if you should choose Platform as a service for cloud computing applications.

Businesses today are exploring the possibilities of cloud-based IT services due to the many benefits it provides—flexibility and accessibility being the most prominent ones. Platform as a Service is one such cloud-based service that is attracting attention from organizations worldwide. Through PaaS, businesses can access tools developers can use to build, test, run, and host web applications. Let’s understand PaaS in more detail and explore the benefits it can bring to businesses.

• What is Platform as a Service?
• How does Platform as a Service work?
• Types of Platform as a Service solutions
• Use Cases for Platform as a Service
• Examples of Platform as a Service
• Reasons to Adopt Platform as a service for cloud computing
• How to choose the right Platform as a Service Provider?

What is Platform as a Service?

Platform as a service for cloud computing provides customers a hardware, software, and infrastructure platform for developing, testing, running, and managing applications. Hiring a complete cloud platform allows users to avoid the costs, complexities, and inflexibilities associated with building and maintaining an on-premises platform.

The PaaS provider hosts servers, networks, operating systems, and storage to their data center’s software, databases, and development tools. There are three different formats in which PaaS can be delivered.

1. As a cloud service from the provider, the customer controls the software deployment with minimal configuration options. The service provider supplies the networking, servers, OS, storage, database, etc., to host the customer’s application.
2. As a private service: which runs behind a firewall.
3. As a software deployed on public infrastructure, e.g., AWS.

From the developer’s perspective, PaaS seems to vastly simplify the process of web application development. With PaaS, developers no longer have to install in-house hardware and software to develop or run new applications.

How does Platform as a Service work?

Platform as a Service is offered by a service provider’s hosted cloud infrastructure. Customers typically access PaaS offerings through a web browser. Usually, a per-use basis model is used, but some providers charge a flat monthly fee instead of accessing the platform and the apps hosted on it. Generally, PaaS solutions have three main parts:

1. Cloud infrastructure includes virtual machines, operating systems, storage, firewalls, networking, etc.
2. Software for building, deploying, and managing applications.
3. A graphic user interface (GUI) that development teams can use to do all their work throughout the entire lifecycle of the application.

Platform as a service for cloud computing does not replace an organization’s IT infrastructure for software development. Rather it only provides key services like Java development, application hosting, application design, development, testing, deployment, etc. PaaS services can also include web service integration, database integration, information security, and development team collaboration. PaaS may include programming languages, development tools, libraries, database management systems, etc.

Types of Platform as a Service solutions

Developers can currently use multiple types of PaaS solutions:

1. Public PaaS: allows users to control software deployment while the service provider manages the IT components.
2. Private PaaS: delivers the agility of a public PaaS while maintaining compliance, security, and benefits of a private data center.
3. Hybrid PaaS: combines public and private PaaS to give businesses the best.
4. Communication PaaS: CPaaS is a cloud-based platform allowing developers to add real-time communications to their apps without back-end infrastructure.
5. Mobile PaaS: using paid integrated development environment for configuring mobile apps. MPaas is delivered through a web browser and typically supports public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises storage.
6. Open PaaS is a free, open-source collaboration platform that allows users to quickly deploy new applications.
7. Integration PaaS: IPaaS is an umbrella term for services that integrate workloads and apps that otherwise might not interoperate natively.
8. Database as a Service: a provider-hosted database workload that includes everything a user needs to operate a database.
9. Middleware as a Service: a suite of integrations needed to connect front-end and back-end functions allowing businesses to use APIs to connect complex and disparate apps.

Now that we know how PaaS works, let’s look at the use cases where this solution proves efficient.

Use Cases for Platform as a Service

PaaS provides a ready-to-use, integrated platform enabling organizations to offload infrastructure management and focus on building. Therefore, PaaS can advance several IT initiatives, such as:

1. Mobile App Development: developers building mobile applications get a simple drag-and-drop interface along with access to sensors, GPS, camera, accelerometer, and other features of the mobile device.
2. API development and management: most modern applications use APIs for data sharing and functionality. PaaS offers built-in frameworks that make the development of application programming interfaces (APIs) easier and faster.
3. IoT: PaaS is a key technology for the development of IoT solutions. PaaS can support a range of programming languages, tools, and application environments used for IoT app development and real-time processing of data generated by IoT devices.
4. Agile development and DevOps: PaaS provides fully-configured environments for automating the lifecycle of a software application. This includes integration, delivery, security, testing, and deployment.
5. Cloud migration and cloud-native development: The ready-to-use tools and integration ability of PaaS can simplify the process of migrating existing applications to the cloud.
6. Hybrid cloud strategy: hybrid clouds integrate public, private, and on-premises cloud infrastructures and provide orchestration, management, and application portability across all three. This results in a unified and flexible distributed computing environment that an organization can use to scale its traditional workloads on a computing model that best suits it. With PaaS solutions, developers can build once and then deploy and manage anywhere in a hybrid cloud environment.
7. Development of cross-platform apps: Businesses often need cross-platform solutions that can be used to create web, desktop, and mobile applications for any particular device. Platform as a service for cloud computing is the best solution as it provides a singular development environment and eliminates the need to use different development frameworks for specific platforms.

To better understand these use cases, we should look at some of the most popular PaaS solutions in the market today.

Examples of Platform as a Service

Not only do PaaS solutions have diverse use cases, but they also display a wide range of product offerings and vendors. Here are some popular examples of PaaS solutions.

1. Google App Engine: allows teams to develop scalable apps in any programming language in cloud-based data centers managed by Google.
2. Cloud Foundry: an open source, multi-cloud PaaS that allows developers to write software in any language and deploy them to production atop a public cloud in three ways—an organization’s own data center, on-premise, or off-premise.
3. Heroku: a polyglot platform allowing the development of consumer-facing apps across programming languages such as Java, Python, Node.js, and Ruby using Unix-style container computing instances.
4. Azure DevOps: a PaaS solution that enables the development and deployment of applications using .NET, Python, Java, PHP, and Ruby.
5. Red Hat OpenShift: a PaaS solution offering various languages, databases, and other components for developing open-source applications.
6. AWS Elastic Beanstalk: a PaaS solution by Amazon that allows developers to deploy and scale their apps on the AWS cloud.

So now you know what PaaS is, how it works, and the use cases it can help with. But are there any benefits that PaaS solutions particularly bring to your business?

Reasons to Adopt Platform as a service for cloud computing

Ultimately, PaaS eliminates the complexities and expenses of evaluating, buying, configuring, and managing all the hardware and software needed for custom-built applications. This has the following technical and business advantages.

1. Cost-effective: Cost is one of the main reasons developers choose cloud-based IT solutions such as PaaS. On-premise systems are expensive from the beginning and come with the additional cost of hiring personnel to manage the software. PaaS provides your business with a software infrastructure base and reduces organizational costs. Users only pay for their services, which could be a highly economical business model.
   
2. Enhances Speed and Flexibility: PaaS solutions provide better flexibility, agility, and speed for the smooth development of applications. App development becomes faster as developers gain instant access to tools, templates, code libraries, etc.
3. Dynamic Allocation: PaaS allows you to test and analyze your app before unveiling it to the world. With PaaS, developers can test one or multiple features of an app amongst a small group of people.
4. Quick Testing and Deployment: PaaS also allows you to build remote teams who can try out different configurations, multiple machines, and multiple locations to test and analyze app performance and compatibility—something that wouldn’t be possible in a local setup.
5. Performance and Scalability: Designing apps for millions of connected devices raises potential security and scalability challenges. PaaS cloud computing helps you care for your scaling needs by ensuring you can run your services smoothly. It ensures top-notch app performance and provides numerous solutions to scale your app.
6. Remote Working: Just and system with an internet connection allow you to operate your business from multiple locations at any given time. Not only does this allow for a global team, but it also allows you to test your app at different locations throughout the world.
7. Less Software Maintenance: Businesses no longer need dedicated teams or time to manage servers or patch operating systems. PaaS providers take care of all the management and the upgradation of the entire system, which gives you time to focus on your business plans.

PaaS  also allows your business to save time, money, and effort through the following:

1. Easy integration with legacy systems: by using apps that incorporate data from your existing systems.
2. Real-time information: creating apps that deliver real-time data and updates to employees, enabling them to make better business decisions.
3. Easier IT maintenance: the PaaS provider takes care of the smooth functioning of the platform, leaving you added time to take care of your apps.
4. Shared insights: reliable PaaS providers quickly respond to user needs and solve issues effectively.

How to choose the right Platform as a Service Provider?

In a previous article, we discussed choosing a cloud service for your business. Now that you’ve learned the benefits of platform as a service for cloud computing, you’re probably wondering how to choose a PaaS solution most suited to your needs. Here are a few things you should consider while choosing a PaaS provider:

1. High-Level Objects: a good PaaS solution should be able to describe and manage objects beyond the infrastructure, i.e., compute, storage, and networking. These objects vary from the arrangement of servers to provisioning activities. Essentially, these objects should include everything your business needs to produce a fully-equipped service. A rich taxonomy for these high-level objects is a positive sign of a flexible PaaS.
2. Data Persistence and Discovery: The process of provisioning service is bound to witness a change in the operating environment. To successfully move from a single server and provision platform components, businesses need a method of exchanging information between those components. Therefore, looking for PaaS solutions that enable the exchange of information without data loss is advisable.
3. Relationships: Most apps are likely to have elements that need automation as part of the provisioning process. The PaaS solution you choose should be able to support this.
4. Workflow: Tight coupling of components, usually to a point where you can’t differentiate between workflow and data model or internal PaaS code, is a sign of a point solution that is highly unlikely to survive the new services you will integrate into the PaaS. Ideally, the workflow component should be able to run independently of the PaaS.
5. API: one of the most basic requirements for a PaaS solution is an open, robust, comprehensive, public, documented, and supported API for everything.
6. Lifecycle Management: The PaaS solution should offer robust management support, including patching, auditing, shrinking, growing, etc.

Platform as a service for cloud computing, closing thoughts

Platform as a service for cloud computing has emerged as a cost-effective cloud platform for developing, testing, running, and managing applications. IDC has predicted that the cloud and PaaS market will see a compound annual growth rate of 28.8% in 2021-2025. These predictions are based on businesses needing to streamline application management tasks while reducing complexity, building collaboration, and shedding local infrastructure. The role of PaaS is expected to see significant growth by 2027. Since businesses of all sizes need to modernize, connect, and share data between different applications, adopting PaaS solutions seems logical.