Even though Platform-as-a-Service is relatively new, there are IT experts who believe that it can be the most significant cloud structure. Recently, the world’s largest cloud computing service providers sat down to discuss PaaS. At the Cloud Leadership Forum, Salesforce.com, Microsoft, Google, and IBM presented their views regarding PaaS.
Platform-as-a-Service can be an important cloud computing service because it allows customization of applications as well as design and development of software which is cloud computing compliant. It is widely believed that companies which take advantage of PaaS will have an edge over their competitors. According to Steven Hendrick of IDC Research, platform-as-a-service has advantages when in come to technology because a PaaS environment is between the infrastructure and software layers which offer PaaS an overview of the cloud system’s supply and demand. This unique position, according to Hendrick, provides an understanding of the infrastructure’s system resources as well as the applications’ workload demands.
Because the one-of-a-kind position of PaaS, a lot of vendors are getting into the PaaS arena. Aside from Salesforce.com, Google, and Microsoft, AppFog, CloudBees, and EngineYard are also entering the fray. CloudFoundry is a PaaS service of VMware while OpenShift is being marketed by Red Hat. Amazon Web Services, according to Hendrick, can also be classified as PaaS service provider because it has developer tools which can be used to build and deploy software in the cloud.
Salesforce.com, on the other hand, is relatively new in the business. But, the company is one of the first to offer Software-as-a-Service through its CRM application which resides in the cloud. Widely used by a lot of established companies, Salesforce.com is currently enjoying their trust which allows it to move to the Platform-as-a-Service arena through Force.com. With its PaaS offering, users can create applications instead of managing the infrastructure.
Microsoft is already offering Azure platform. Developers can deploy their applications through this platform which can provision virtual machines instantaneously according to the developer’s specifications. Azure also allows seamless connections between Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service. With Microsoft, users are assured of more than 25 years of experience in understanding the CIO’s requirements.
IBM divides the world PaaS into new applications and legacy applications. Legacy software is no being converted to be deployed in the clouds while new applications are specifically created for the PaaS environment. SmartCloud and PureSystems appliances offer migration to the PaaS environment. Google’s advantage over its competitors is that it is the only company which started as a cloud company. AppEngine, its PaaS layer, can be integrated with various Google applications like map, email, etc. It can also support Python and Java languages.