What Is Platform as a Service (PaaS)?

Platform as a service (PaaS) is a cloud computing model. It expands upon infrastructure as a service (IaaS)—compute, storage, and networking—with middleware such as development and deployment environments, database management systems, business intelligence (BI) services, and more. 

It’s the digital embodiment of the popular axiom, “You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.” 

Take one of the most significant differences between software products and everyday physical goods: how easily they can be replicated or recreated. Creating new physical goods—even physical goods you’ve made hundreds or thousands of times—requires raw materials, capital, and labor. Software, on the other hand, can be replicated with the click of a button and available for use immediately.

Keep that distinction in mind as we take a closer look at PaaS and how it makes setting up and developing software applications easier.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Platform, in this case, refers to the software environment layer that is applied on top of the infrastructure to build applications. In most instances, PaaS is provided by an IaaS provider (though technically, PaaS can also be obtained through a different service). 

IaaS offers the physical building, servers, and network capabilities that form your infrastructure. PaaS provides the operating systems, programming tools, and other ancillary tools required to deploy and operate applications. 

Some of the most common types of middleware offered by PaaS providers include:

• Operating systems
• Development tools
• Business intelligence tools
• Machine learning algorithms
• Database management systems
• Development frameworks
• Software licenses
• Container orchestrators like Kubernetes

PaaS makes it easier to manage the various software licenses and other services you need to build applications. You can focus on building applications and your PaaS provider will manage the rest.

Often, PaaS is used when you need to build an application based on existing software or framework. Analytics and other data science tools are commonly used PaaS offerings. Modules for data management, workflow management, security, and scheduling are also commonly used.

The Benefits of PaaS

Using a PaaS solution makes it possible to:

• Reduce coding time. Developers won’t have to build solutions from scratch. Through PaaS, they can build application-specific solutions on top of existing tested codebases.
• Access additional tools and services. PaaS providers act as intermediaries between their customers and software providers. Thanks to their leverage, they’re often able to obtain more favorable deals, reducing costs for customers.
• Do more with less. Organizations can build industry-leading digital applications without having to maintain a large staff or significant in-house resources. 
• Deliver output in a geographically agnostic manner. Because PaaS can work in a distributed model at both ends, it’s easy for location-independent developers to work with PaaS providers. 
• Facilitate all stages of the software development lifecycle. PaaS providers often offer tools for building, testing, deploying, managing, and updating applications. 
• Set up the most efficient integrations of various components. PaaS  environments integrate infrastructure and middleware components.

How Pure Storage Supports Your PaaS Needs

Pure1® is an AI-driven data storage management solution from Pure Storage®. It offers complete visibility into your storage implementation and helps improve your ability to acquire, manage, and optimize your organization’s infrastructure. 

Benefits include: 

• The ability to monitor, analyze, and optimize storage remotely from any location
• Push notifications and alerts on mobile devices
• AI-driven support for better decision-making
• The ability to manage provisions for different services, without fear of overspending
• Support to deploy new applications and grow the service
• The ability to estimate future resource needs and workflow demands
• REST API-based monitoring
• The ability to execute purchase decisions for products and services in a hybrid-cloud environment

Even better, Pure1 is capable of managing your end-to-end solution implementation in a hybrid-cloud environment, making it easy to manage storage for your applications with high efficiency, at a lower cost. Forecast future requirements and take any necessary actions to support your solutions—without any bottlenecks. 

Reach out today to learn more or request a demo.