Platform as a service (PaaS)

Definition

Platform as a service (PaaS) is a cloud computing model that provides a platform allowing customers to develop, run, and manage applications without the complexity of building and maintaining the underlying infrastructure. 

What is platform as a service?

PaaS offers a complete development and deployment environment in the cloud, including tools, libraries, middleware, databases, and runtime environments, enabling developers to focus on building and delivering applications rather than managing hardware and software infrastructure.

PaaS platforms are designed to scale automatically to handle fluctuations in application demand. They offer features such as auto-scaling, load balancing, and elastic storage to ensure that applications can scale up or down seamlessly in response to changing workload requirements. 

PaaS platforms typically support multi-tenancy, allowing multiple users or organisations to share the same underlying infrastructure and resources while maintaining isolation and security. Additionally, PaaS platforms support various deployment models, including public, private, and hybrid clouds, as well as on-premises environments. This flexibility allows organisations to choose the deployment model that best meets their requirements for security, compliance, performance, and data sovereignty.

A pay-as-you-go pricing model are typically used by PaaS platforms, where customers pay only for the resources and services they consume on a usage basis. This allows organisations to align their costs with actual usage and avoid upfront capital investments in infrastructure.

Example of platform as a service

Imagine a software development company, “Tech Solutions Inc.,” that is building a new web application. Instead of setting up and managing their own infrastructure, they decide to use a PaaS provider to streamline their process.

• Choosing a PaaS provider: Tech Solutions Inc. selects a PaaS provider that offers a platform for building, deploying, and managing web applications.
• Developing the application: The development team at Tech Solutions Inc. starts building the web application using the tools and resources provided by the PaaS platform. 
• Managing the application: After the application is deployed, Tech Solutions Inc. can easily manage and monitor its performance using the management tools.
• Scaling and growing: As the web application gains popularity and user traffic increases, Tech Solutions Inc. can seamlessly scale their resources up or down using the scaling features offered by the PaaS platform.
• Cost management: With PaaS, Tech Solutions Inc. pays for the resources and services they use on a pay-as-you-go basis, eliminating the need for upfront capital investment in hardware or software licenses.