Best PaaS Cloud Solutions

According to the IT Central Station (soon to be Peerspot) community, security is the most important criteria when selecting a Platform as a Service vendor (PaaS Cloud). PaaS clouds vary in the level of abstraction they provide their consumers. There are tradeoffs between efficiency and control over the application. Other key considerations are: the degree to which it will integrate seamlessly with the rest of the enterprise platform, the speed and resilience of internetworking, and the extent to which the platform is under control for configuration purposes. Read more »

There are various sorts of PaaS, which include:

• Public PaaS

A public PaaS service runs on the public cloud. Middleware offered by public PaaS vendors allows developers to manage servers and databases without having to see or manage the infrastructure involved. Public PaaS runs on top of a vendor’s IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and is tied to one public cloud. It offers simplicity and speed to market, but in return, users sacrifice a measure of control over their development stacks.

Public PaaS has been embraced by some small and medium-sized businesses, but larger organizations are hesitant to adopt it because the technology makes use of the public cloud. In order to meet regulations and compliance issues, larger enterprises must keep the vast majority of their data in the private cloud.

• Private PaaS

Private PaaS can be set up using any kind of infrastructure, giving businesses more control over their data. It also allows you to deploy and manage your applications while meeting all the various security and privacy requirements. On the downside, private PaaS customers have to maintain physical servers and can’t just store everything in the cloud.

• Hybrid PaaS

Hybrid cloud PaaS, which is becoming popular, combines public and private, providing greater stability of costs and flexibility of capacity.

• Communication PaaS (CPaaS)

Communications platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) is a cloud-based platform that can be used by developers to add real-time communications features to their application service without having to build backend infrastructures and interfaces. Embedding communications features using CPaaS allows DevOps teams to save on the costs of infrastructure, human resources, and market time. It gives teams access to open-source APIs (application programming interfaces) and embedded communications tech, which allows them to offer superior customer experience by adding communication platforms such as SMS, voice, data, and meetings to their business apps.

• Mobile PaaS

Mobile platform-as-a-service (MPaaS) is an environment for developing and deploying mobile applications via the cloud. MPaaS is designed to support the we application lifecyle from start to finish, from building, testing, and deploying to managing and updating.

• Open PaaS

Open platform-as-a-service is a cloud-based social platform aiming to encourage teamwork and collaboration within a cloud framework. It provides real-time collaboration services such as business process modeling, document editing, and advanced video conferencing solutions.

PaaS consists of: physical infrastructure (servers, storage, data centers, network equipment), intermediate-layer software (libraries, languages, operating systems, frameworks), and user interface, which displays the architecture and the logic of the deployment machinery and provides the usability and the learnability of the PaaS.

PaaS services may include application hosting, Java development, web service integration, database integration, development team collaboration, and information security.

While PaaS solutions are often used in the development of mobile applications, many companies also use them to build cross-platform apps. This is because PaaS provides a dynamic and flexible solution that allows for an application to be operated on almost any device.

PaaS can also be used in DevOps tools, since it provides not only application lifecycle management features but also specific features to fit your company's product development methodologies. PaaS allows DevOps teams to insert cloud-based continuous integration tools that add updates without producing downtime.

In addition, PaaS can be used to reduce the time it takes your application to reach the market by automating or even completely eliminating maintenance and housekeeping and tasks. PaaS can also help to reduce the burden of managing scalable infrastructure, thereby decreasing infrastructure management. The PaaS providers take the responsibility for load balancing, scaling, and distributing new dependent services off of the developers’ plates.

The PaaS model can be used to introduce new models of technical growth. Examples include container technology and serverless functions. PaaS can assist organizations in industries that are slow to adapt to new technologies, such as manufacturing and banking, to adjust without having to completely change their business processes.

Benefits of PaaS include:

          1. Reduced costs for:

• Server and storage overhead: Since the PaaS provides the development tools and all of the iterations of code don’t need to be stored in the data center, money doesn’t need to be spent on unused capacity. These savings are realized whether development occurs on-premises or in the cloud. [
• Network bandwidth: Because the development and deployment process occurs in the cloud fewer resources need to be bandwidth capacity in the data center.
• Software maintenance: The per-month price of PaaS is generally offset by the reduction or elimination of software license costs and maintenance fees, since the platform vendor manages updates and patches as well as providing security. 
• Simplified service and support: By standardizing and automating across the organization, teams are able to be reduced or refocused away from routine tasks. 
• Fewer mistakes: Because the platform has already been tested and is known to work, there is less pressure on developers and therefore fewer careless mistakes.
• Lower skill requirements: Middleware and development tools can be complex and a high degree of skill is required to successfully deploy an application. When the middleware and development are already provided, the skill level required is lower, removing the bottleneck that sometimes forms while awaiting assistance from an expert.
  
  2. Increased speed of development and deployment, helping to:
• allow development teams to focus on the application, thus enabling faster time to market
• be more competitive because capital investments can be spread further.
• quickly test the use of new operating systems, languages, databases, etc. without having to first create the supporting infrastructure for them.
• access and upgrade tools faster and more easily, thereby cutting the time it takes to code.
  

On the other hand, PaaS does come with some disadvantages. For one thing, it leaves you dependent on your vendor’s capabilities, speed and reliability. You may also find you have some compatibility issues with your existing infrastructure. In addition, because PaaS software is available to multiple end users in a public environment, you have to be aware of possible security concerns.

 Use cases for PaaS include:

• Development and management of application programming interfaces (APIs) and microservices. 
• Business analytics/intelligence - predicting events and behaviors and making more data-driven, qualified decisions
• Business process management (BPM) - PaaS can be used to access a BPM platform, which integrates the IT components needed for process management (data, business rules, service-level agreements, etc.)
• Communication/collaboration - including features like video, voice and chat
• Databases/data management - PaaS provides an on-demand, secure, scalable platform for database creation, administration, and management 
• Internet of things - PaaS supports various application environments, programming languages, and tools, allowing for necessary connectivity and integrations
• Worker systems - PaaS allows you to schedule jobs to run regularly, run tasks in the background, and process tasks at scale
• Master data management (MDM) - This covers the processes, policies, standards, governance, and tools that manage an enterprise’s critical business data, including reference data and analytical data

The term aPaaS (application platform as a service) is often used interchangeably with PaaS. The subtle difference between the two is that PaaS, which provides a greater number of tools and services, refers to the entire spectrum of middleware as a service. aPaaS, on the other hand, encompasses only the tools that are used for application design, development, testing, deployment, management, and updating.