Will PaaS be a specific manifestation of cloud computing?

2024-01-19

PaaS stands for Platform as a Service, which refers to Platform as a Service. The business model of using server platforms as a service provider and providing services through networks through programs is called SaaS (Software as a Service), while in the era of cloud computing, providing corresponding server platforms or development environments as services becomes PaaS (Platform as a Service).

The so-called PaaS actually refers to submitting the software development platform as a service to users in the SaaS model. Therefore, PaaS is also an application of the SaaS model. However, the emergence of PaaS can accelerate the development of SaaS, especially the speed of SaaS application development. In 2007, domestic and foreign SaaS manufacturers successively launched their own PaaS platforms.

Cloud computing is a type of distributed computing that refers to breaking down massive data processing programs into countless small programs through a network "cloud", and then processing and analyzing these small programs through a system composed of multiple servers to obtain results and return them to users. In the early days of cloud computing, simply put, it was simple distributed computing that solved task distribution and merged computing results. Therefore, cloud computing is also known as grid computing. Through this technology, it is possible to process tens of thousands of data in a very short amount of time (a few seconds), thereby achieving powerful network services.

The services discussed in cloud computing include three levels of services: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Platform as a Service (PaaS) is an important component of cloud computing, providing computing platforms and solution services. In the typical hierarchy of cloud computing, the PaaS layer falls between software as a service and infrastructure as a service. PaaS provides users with the ability to deploy and create cloud infrastructure on the client side, or gain access to programming languages, libraries, and services. Users do not need to manage and control cloud infrastructure (including networks, servers, operating systems, or storage), but they need to control the deployment and hosting environment of upper level applications. PaaS treats software development platforms as a service and delivers them to users in a software as a service (SaaS) model. PaaS provides a software deployment platform (runtime) that abstracts hardware and operating system details, allowing for seamless scaling. Developers only need to focus on their own business logic, not on the underlying layer. PaaS provides an environment for generating, testing, and deploying software applications.

PaaS is a complete development and deployment environment in the cloud, whose resources enable organizations to provide everything from simple cloud based applications to complex cloud supported enterprise applications. Resources are purchased from cloud service providers on a pay as you go basis and accessed through a secure internet connection.

PaaS is typically used in the following scenarios:

Development framework. PaaS provides a framework that developers can build on to develop or customize cloud based applications. Just like Microsoft Excel macros, PaaS enables developers to create applications using built-in software components. The cloud features, including scalability, high availability, and multi tenant functionality, reduce the coding workload of developers.

Analytics or Business Intelligence. With the tools provided as PaaS services, organizations can analyze and mine their data. They can search for insights and patterns and predict results to improve business decisions such as forecasting, product design, and investment returns.

The reason why PaaS can promote the development of SaaS is mainly because it can provide enterprises with customized middleware platforms for research and development, while covering databases and application servers. PaaS can increase the amount of resources utilized on web platforms. For example, Data as a Service can be used through remote web services, and visual APIs can also be used. Even PaaS platforms like the 800app allow you to mix and match other platforms that are suitable for your application. Users or vendors can quickly develop the applications and products they need based on the PaaS platform. Meanwhile, applications developed on the PaaS platform can better build enterprise applications based on SOA architecture.

In addition, PaaS can help SaaS operators diversify and customize their products. For example, Salesforce's PaaS platform allows more ISVs to become customers of its platform, thereby developing various SaaS applications based on their platform, making it a diversified software service provider (Multi Application Vendor), rather than just a CRM on-demand service provider. The domestic SaaS manufacturer 800app has not only changed the market positioning of CRM suppliers through the PaaS platform, but also achieved BTO (Build to Order) and online delivery processes. Using the PaaS development platform of the 800app, users no longer need any programming to develop any enterprise management software, including CRM, OA, HR, SCM, inventory management, etc., and do not need to use other software development tools and run them online immediately.

Amazon, a giant company specializing in electronic commerce sites for individuals, rents out a system platform that was originally built for the operation of their own company. Users can freely choose operating systems and intermediate software, and provide hardware and software platforms as services in this way. It was initially used by some adventurous enterprises overseas. Since 2006, Amazon EC and Amazon S3 have been launched as services to the market.

There is also Google, the leader of the modern software industry and also a next-generation computing company. As we all know, it has built and operated numerous data centers around the world. Renowned for search engines and new advertising models. They have equipped the world's powerful data centers and ultra-high performance parallel computing clusters with inexpensive computers and powerful middleware, as well as their own technology. The PaaS service released in April 2008, Google App Engine, and Amazon's EC2, S3, SimpleDB and other services have similar features. On these stable platforms, search engines, GMail, and other services are also running. Salesforce, also known for its success in ASP to SaaS, began publicly disclosing its system base disk for SaaS in 2007 and began entering the PaaS business under the name Force. The PaaS services he provides use Java like language Apex and Eclipse development platform, and the integrated development environment is also provided as a service (Development as a Service). Google/Amazon/Salesforce, these three software giants, attach great importance to the new business model of PaaS. Amazon's PaaS services provide users with more freedom to freely combine services, while Google provides more services for users to use conveniently, eliminating some tedious tasks. Google/Salesforce's PaaS is not only a provider of basic hardware for development environments, but also a true platform as a service (PaaS)

characteristic

PaaS can integrate various existing business capabilities, which can be classified as application servers, business capability access, business engines, and business open platforms. It calculates basic service capabilities based on business capability needs downwards, calls hardware resources through the API provided by IaaS, and provides business dispatch center services upwards. It monitors various resources of the platform in real-time and opens these resources to SaaS users through the API. PaaS mainly has the following three characteristics:

(1) Platform as a Service: The fundamental difference between the services provided by PaaS and other services is that PaaS provides a basic platform rather than a certain application. In traditional beliefs, platforms are the foundation for providing services to the outside world. Generally speaking, as the foundation of application system deployment, platforms are built and maintained by application service providers. PaaS subverts this concept by having specialized platform service providers build and operate the basic platform, and provide the platform to application system operators in a service-oriented manner;

(2) Platform and Services: The services that PaaS operators need to provide are not only basic platforms, but also technical support services for the platform, and even application system development, optimization, and other services for the platform. PaaS operators understand the basic platform they operate on, so the suggestions for application system optimization and improvement proposed by PaaS operators are also very important. In the development process of new application systems, the involvement of PaaS operators' technical consulting and support teams is also an important factor in ensuring the long-term and stable operation of the application system in future operations;

(3) Platform level services: The services provided by PaaS operators to the outside world are different from other services. Behind this service is a powerful and stable basic operation platform, as well as a professional technical support team. This "platform level" service can ensure the long-term and stable operation of various application systems supporting SaaS or other software service providers. The essence of PaaS is to turn internet resources into programmable interfaces, providing third-party developers with commercially valuable resources and service platforms. With the support of the PaaS platform, cloud computing developers have access to a large number of programmable elements with specific business logic, which brings great convenience to development. This not only improves development efficiency, but also saves development costs. With the support of the PaaS platform, the development of web applications has become more agile, with the ability to quickly respond to user needs and bring tangible benefits to end users.

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