Predicting the Future by Examining the PaaS

When people talk about cloud computing, they usually categorize cloud technology in three ways: SaaS (Software as a Service), IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and PaaS Platform as a Service).  In a recent article published by Gartner, Inc., one of the world’s leading information technology research and advisory companies, the PaaS component of cloud computing is predicted to experience tremendous growth within the next few years. 

While there are many varied definitions of PaaS out there, CloudTweaks describes it as “a combination of a development platform and a solution stack, delivered as a service on demand. It provides infrastructure on which software developers can build new applications or extend existing ones without the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying hardware and software and provisioning hosting capabilities.”  Inconsistencies in defining exactly what PaaS is exist due to the fact that it can have some overlap into the IaaS and even SaaS realms.  The Dummies.com website brings some clarity to PaaS with a list of things all PaaS solutions have in common including: PaaS has to leverage the Internet, PaaS must offer some type of development language so professional developers (and in some cases users) can add value, a PaaS environment needs to support the development lifecycle and the team development process, including testing, and PaaS platform must be able to deploy, manage, test, and maintain the developed applications.

With the important role PaaS can play in cloud computing, it is understandable that Gartner would predict that this area of technology will be growing immensely within the next few years.  Yefim Natis, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, states "With large and growing vendor investment in PaaS, the market is on the cusp of several years of strategic growth, leading to innovation and likely breakthroughs in technology and business use of all of cloud computing.  Users and vendors of enterprise IT software solutions that are not yet engaged with PaaS must begin building expertise in PaaS or face tough challenges from competitors in the coming years."

Gartner predicts that 2012 will be an early growth stage for the PaaS market while there is not yet a generally accepted leader in this area nor are there clearly defined best business practices or standards.  It is also predicted that, “some of the newly announced PaaS offerings will reach general availability late in 2012, and by the end of 2013, all major software vendors will have competitive production offerings in the PaaS market. By 2016, competition among the PaaS vendors will produce new programming models, new standards and new software market leaders. However, until then, users will continue to experience architectural changes to technologies, business models and vendor alignments in the PaaS market.” 

Gartner concludes by predicting that investment in PaaS services will continue to grow and major software vendors will begin to develop PaaS service packages throughout the next four years.  This expansion will in turn encourage all areas of the PaaS market to experience acceleration in growth.  If you would like to hear more about how this growth affects your business or what cloud computing as it relates to PaaS, SaaS, or IaaS can do for your company, schedule an appointment with The Vested Group today.