Platform as a Service

Platform as a service (PaaS) is a cloud computing service that provides a platform allowing customers to develop, run, and manage applications without the complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure, hardware and software, typically associated with developing and launching an app.

Platform as a service (PaaS) is a category of cloud computing services that provides a platform allowing customers to develop, run, and manage applications without the complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure typically associated with developing and launching an app. One very relevant example is an IoT Platform as a Service. Setting up an IoT platform can be complex and involve multiple components, including sensor and device management, message queues, NoSQL databases, APIs, and security. Instead of licensing, deploying, integrating, and managing all these complex components, an IoT solution provider can leverage an IoT PaaS. The platform handles every component, while there is a need for adding the specific business or application logic to program in the space with details, like choosing the suitable sensors, the way to transmit, store, and process the data, and the way to control devices. Cloud computing, in any form, is a very cost-effective and easy-to-use option for everyone wanting to use hardware and software applications for some purpose but doesn't have the budget or expertise to buy and manage everything by themselves.

Developer Services

Several platforms allow developers to complete their app development from start to end without needing to procure a server or deploy any development tools. Alternately, some platforms offer some components of the overall solution as a service.

You will find PaaS solutions across all application tiers:

• PaaS solutions allow you to develop and deploy the complete user interface logic for a web app. This can then connect to a processing server via APIs.

• API solutions themselves are offered as a PaaS service. While writing the logic for the APIs is the responsibility of the app developer, there are many common aspects such as authentication, security, throttling (restricting the number of API calls a third-party app can make), and billing (for a paid API service) that API platforms offer.

• And finally, app developers can use databases as a service. Instead of incurring the overhead of installing and managing databases themselves, app developers can use a PaaS offering. All they have to do is set up the database as per their requirement, and connect all apps to write and read from that database. The PaaS provider will take care of ensuring uptime, taking backups, and keeping the data secure.

See the illustration below to get an overview of cloud computing services: