So we’ve covered Infrastructure as a Service, Software as a Service, now let’s talk about Platform as a Service.
What is Platform as a Service?
According to TechTarget.com, it is “a way to rent hardware, operating systems, storage and network capacity over the internet…(it) allows the customer to rent virtualized servers and associated services for running existing applications or developing and testing new ones.”
The final point is probably what has contributed to PaaS’s success. Since the service is provided online, this relief from hardware issues lets developers concentrate on creating and launching an app. With no worries about storage and backups, they can move quickly through the app development process.
PaaS is commonly confused with two things, one is it’s distant cousin middleware and the other one its family member, Infrastructure as a Service. Here’s the difference:
- With middleware, PaaS is a “superset”, giving developers the tools to develop to a particular platform without worrying about the configuring the servers to successfully deploy, manage, and monitor it. Whereas middleware still requires IT teams to handle all this maintenance
- IaaS delivers the service over the internet and the provider manages the creation of a virtual machine. The provider of IaaS handles all the hardware necessary for doing so. PaaS gives you access to create within and for a certain platform. and all the hardware isn’t even considered by the end user.
Why, or why not, Platform as a Service?
I touched briefly on it before but one of the biggest benefits of Platform as a Service is the speed and ease you can create, update, deploy and fix apps with the service. The groups who will see the biggest advantages in a system like this are your developers and impatient people.
It’s a more hands off approach and even cheaper because less time is spent updating the network as this is done for you. It’s cheaper because you spend less time evaluating how and what the app will do and instead quickly create and then test it. Giving you an advantage to have a custom created app without the cost.
So why not? According again to TechTarget.com, there are risks of being locked in due to building apps on certain interfaces or in specific development languages.
Who is using Platform as a Service?
I sound like a broken record, but it’s really for application developers. But downstream, your business users are benefitting greatly from this quick transition from “keeping the lights on” to creating apps that bring value.
Are you using PaaS? Do you see a benefit or a disadvantage that I missed? Let me know by commenting on this post or telling me on Twitter @LindseyNNelson