WOLF Whitepaper - The Role of Platform-as-a-Service

Whitepaper

The Role of Platform-as-a-Service
Moving from buzzword to mainstream

WOLF Frameworks

The Rol e of Platform -as-a-Service

Contents

Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................................3
Traditional model .......................................................................................................................................................3
The New Model ..........................................................................................................................................................3
What is SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS…..the cloud computing lingo? .....................................................................................3
Welcome to PaaS........................................................................................................................................................4
Types of PaaS ..............................................................................................................................................................4
Key Characteristics of PaaS.........................................................................................................................................5
Advantages of PaaS ....................................................................................................................................................5
What Makes PaaS Different?......................................................................................................................................6
Monetization of PaaS .................................................................................................................................................6
PaaS Service Levels .....................................................................................................................................................7
Why WOLF Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)? .................................................................................................................7
References ..................................................................................................................................................................8

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Abstract The New Model

Platform-as-a-Service is an increasingly popular paradigm Just as Amazon.com, eBay, Google, iTunes, and YouTube
moving from just being a buzzword to the mainstream. A made it possible to access new capabilities and new
number of Startups, ISVs and Enterprises are now going markets through a Web browser, PaaS offers a faster, more
directly to the cloud, bypassing traditional web hosting cost-effective model for application development and
solutions, avoiding the need to own a server in-house, and delivery.
shifting from the traditional model of software
development to the new model offered by PaaS. This PaaS provides the entire infrastructure needed to run
whitepaper talks about the shift from the traditional applications over the Internet. It is delivered in the same
software development model to the new model offered by way as a utility like electricity or water. Users simply “tap
Platform-as-a-Service. It proceeds to discuss the various in” and take what they need without worrying about the
types of PaaS, key characteristics, advantages, complexity behind the scenes. And like a utility, PaaS is
monetization models to the service levels offered by PaaS based on a metering or subscription model so users only
providers. pay for what they use.

Traditional model With PaaS, ISVs and corporate IT departments can focus on
innovation instead of complex infrastructure. By leveraging
The traditional model of building and running on-premise the PaaS, organizations can redirect a significant portion of
applications has always been complex, expensive and risky. their budgets from “keeping the lights on” to creating
To deploy or use software we first needed the hardware applications that provide real business value.
which included servers from hardware vendors like Dell,
This model is driving a new era of mass innovation. For the
HP, IBM or Sun. If we are intending to build a web
first time, developers around the world can access
application, we also required data center equipments like
unlimited computing power. Now, anyone with an Internet
firewalls, switches, routers, VPNs etc for performance and
connection can build powerful applications and easily
security. Then it was bandwidth and hosting services.
deploy them to users wherever they’re located.
Once the hardware is in place; we required to purchase and
What is SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS…..the cloud
install operating system, and subsequently an application
computing lingo?
server stack, such as Tomcat for Java, LAMP for PHP or Perl.
Next we needed some database like MySQL or Microsoft
SQL Server.

Once the stack was assembled, a team of developers had to
navigate complex programming models like J2EE and .NET.
A team of network, database, and system management
experts was needed to keep everything up and running.
Inevitably, a business requirement would require a change
to the application, which would then kick off a lengthy
development, test, and redeployment cycle.

Large companies often needed specialized facilities to
house their data centers. Enormous amounts of electricity
also were needed to power the servers as well as the
Figure 1: Cloud Computing Stack
systems to keep them cool. Finally, a failover site was
needed to mirror the data center so information could be SaaS, PaaS and IaaS are various segments of cloud
replicated in case of a disaster. computing.

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Software as a Service (SaaS) is the service based on the do is keep capital expenditures under control. By moving
concept of renting software from a service provider rather your infrastructure to the cloud, you have the ability to
than buying it yourself. The software is hosted on scale as if you owned your own hardware and data center.
centralized network servers to make functionality available
over the web or intranet. Also known as “software on Welcome to PaaS
demand” it is currently the most popular type of cloud
What makes PaaS unique? With so much buzz around
computing because of its high flexibility, great services,
Cloud Computing Services including Infrastructure-as-a-
enhanced scalability and less maintenance. Yahoo mail,
Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-
Google docs, CRM applications are all instances of SaaS.
as-a-Service (SaaS), why PaaS stands out of this mix? Is
The service provider hosts both the application and the
PaaS simply a way of getting code up and running without
data so the end user is free to use the service from
having to requisition a server or there is more to it? In the
anywhere. With SaaS user need not worry about
words of Wikipedia, ‘Platform as a service (PaaS) is the
installation or upgrades.
delivery of a computing platform and solution stack as a
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provides an independent service’. PaaS makes all of the facilities required to support
platform or middleware on which developers can build and the end-to-end life cycle of building and delivering web
deploy customer application. Common solutions provided applications and services entirely available from the
in this tier range from APIs and tools to database and Internet with no software downloads or installation for
business process management system, to security developers or end-users.
integration, allowing developers to build applications and
run them on the infrastructure that cloud vendors own and Types of PaaS
maintains.

The final segment in the cloud computing is the
infrastructure. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is delivery
of the computing infrastructure as a fully outsourced
service operated in a pay-as-you-go model. Some of the
companies that provide infrastructure services are Google,
IBM, and Amazon etc. Managed hosting and development
environments are the services included in IaaS. The user
can buy the infrastructure according to the requirements at
any particular point of time instead of buying the
infrastructure that might not be used for months.
Virtualization enables IaaS providers to offer almost
unlimited instances of servers to customers and make cost-
effective use of the hosting hardware. IaaS users enjoy
access to enterprise grade IT Infrastructure and resources
Figure 2: Types of PaaS
that might be very costly if purchased completely. Thus
dynamic scaling, usage based pricing, reduced costs and Social Application Platforms – Social Application Platforms
access to superior IT resources are some of the benefits of are used to develop applications on social networks.
IaaS. IaaS is also sometimes referred to as Hardware as a Platforms like Facebook, Orkut, Yahoo, and MySpace
Service (HaaS). An Infrastructure as a Service offering also provide APIs for third parties to write new application
provides maximum flexibility because just about anything functionality that is made available to all users.
that can be virtualized can be run on these platforms. This
is perhaps the biggest benefit of an IaaS environment. For a Computation Platforms – Computation Platforms are sort
startup or small business, one of the most difficult things to of hardware architecture and software framework

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(including application frameworks) that allows software to investing in expensive software licenses with its
run. Amazon Web services and Microsoft Azure provide subscription model based on a pay-as-you-use basis.
storage, processor, and bandwidth as a service. Developers 5. Eliminates the overhead of buying, configuring and
can upload their traditional software stack and run their maintaining hardware such as database, middleware
applications on these infrastructures. and server, which interact with each other as well as
with the software, as these are all taken care of by
Web Application Platforms – Web Application Platforms the PaaS provider.
like Google provide APIs and functionality for developers to 6. Instant deployment of your web application.
build Web applications that leverage its mapping, calendar, 7. Inherent security provided by the PaaS provider. In
and spreadsheets plus YouTube and other services. addition to this, many PaaS providers give the option
of enabling additional security features at a price.
Business Application Platforms – Business Application
8. Multi tenant Architecture
Platforms provide application infrastructure specifically for
9. Faster ROI
transactional business applications such as database,
10. Scalability
integration, workflow, and user interface services. For
11. Integration with a host of software systems
companies unwilling to compromise on scalability,
12. Simultaneous upgrades or enchantments for SaaS
reliability, and security, WOLF is a clear choice for a flexible
applications or the PaaS system by the PaaS
platform that manages critical business processes and is a
provider.
rapid online application development platform. Business
Application platforms can also be used to build situational
applications. Situational Applications do not replace core Advantages of PaaS
business applications. They address a different need —
Following are the some advantages of PaaS as a Customer
applications that are built for just a handful of users,
point of view:
applications that are used for only a few weeks or months,
or applications that address a small piece of functionality. 1. Low cost and lower total cost of ownership (TCO):
Situational applications are a potent combination of tools, Generally when customer wants to have a software
mindset and methodology. They provide a formidable force business solution (IT enabled business solution),
that helps your organization meet today’s business there are many factors for which cost have to be
challenges quickly and cost-effectively. considered. The various types of costs involved are
datacenter costs, setup costs, licensing costs,
Key Characteristics of PaaS
training costs, maintenance costs and support costs.
1. Simplified and reduced infrastructure - Build web When a customer uses PaaS as a business solution,
applications using a browser and an internet then they don’t have to worry about this entire
connection. infrastructure and ultimately there is reduction in
2. Work across boundaries - Collaboration of cost.
geographically distributed teams in development 2. Zero Infrastructure - Reduced Overheads: Customer
and maintenance of a software. not has to consider setup and maintenance so there
3. PaaS keeps the focus on the design - PaaS takes care is less overhead associated with PaaS model.
of configuring and maintaining the interoperability 3. On demand service: Customer can use a platform of
of individual components of the web application, their choice and requirement on a subscription basis
enabling the focus to be on the design of the and when there is no need for it they can
software. discontinue the same.
4. Removes the overhead of buying/installing 4. Lower risk - faster implementations and outsourced
additional software - PaaS works on an On-Demand expertise dramatically lower risk
Model. It further eliminates the overhead of 5. A more powerful and secure IT infrastructure

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6. Cost-effective Infinite Scalability: Customer can Scale PaaS platforms also have functional differences from
the no of user licenses as per their requirements. traditional development platforms. These include:
7. Easy to implement: As there is no infrastructure
setup associated with PaaS, it is easy to implement 1. Multi-tenant development tool: traditional
8. Freedom of Choice: As there are many PaaS development tools are single user – PaaS supports
providers, customer can select according to their multiple users, each with multiple roles.
choice and requirement. 2. Multi-tenant deployment architecture: scalability is
9. Centralized feature updating, which obviates the often not a concern of the initial development effort
need for downloadable patches and upgrades and is left instead for the system administrators to
10. Per license cost has to give deal with when the project deploys. In PaaS,
scalability of the application and data tiers must be
built-in (e.g., load balancing, failover need to be
Platform as a Service (PaaS) help business users to basic elements of the dev platform itself).
minimize operational costs and increase their productivity. 3. Integrated management: traditional development
Some of the advantages to business users are: solution usually does not concern them with runtime
monitoring, but in PaaS, the monitoring ability needs
1. Time to Market
to be baked into the development platform.
2. Requires no up-front investments
4. Integrated billing: PaaS offerings require
3. Minimize operational costs
mechanisms for billing based on usage that are
4. Centralized information management
unique to the SaaS world.
5. Enhanced productivity
6. Access to information anywhere, anytime
7. Easy collaboration Monetization of PaaS
8. Secured and customized access
The traditional licensing model of the on-premise platform
or software is not the best idea for On-demand Platform. A
Platform as a Service (PaaS) enables developers to focus subscription pricing model is the most suitable solution to
only on innovation that provide real business value instead PaaS monetization. Many PaaS providers face the problem
of infrastructure set-up. Some of the advantages are: of fixing the right price for its platform/services. There are
many alternatives and factors that should be considered
1. Zero Infrastructure when dealing with this.
2. Lower Risk
3. Lower cost and improved profitability
4. Easy and quick development
Pay Pay per
5. Monetize quickly Periodically User
6. Reusable code and business logics
7. Integration with other web services

Pay for Pay per
Resources Features
What Makes PaaS Different?

The alternative to PaaS is to develop web applications using
Figure 3: Payment models of PaaS
desktop development tools like Eclipse or Microsoft Access,
and then manually deploy those applications to a cloud Some of the pricing alternatives for Platform-as-a-Service
hosting provider such as Amazon EC2. are:

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1. Pay Periodically: This means charging the customer 2. Customized SaaS solutions for every customer
on regular basis as a monthly subscription fees. o WOLF’s unique technical architecture allows
2. Pay for each user: Charge the customer on the basis customers to develop and enhance custom
of the number of users for the platform. features and processes within days with minimal
3. Pay for the resources: This means charging the investments.
customer for computing resources such as data o You have freedom to white label your solutions
storage. – custom branding, personalized URL and
4. Pay for the features: The customer pays just for the custom UI. Easily embed WOLF functional
features in the platform they really need. This can be widgets in your website, portal or blog.
based on the number of applications a customer can 3. Intuitive Business Rules Engine
build on the platform. o Ready-to-use Business Rule Actions to fire &
map complex business processes. Draw complex
PaaS Service Levels analysis from data and represent it in the form
of reports, graphical charts and dashboard items
within minutes.
4. Interoperable & Mashable SaaS Applications
o Ready actions to interact with on-premise or
other Cloud based software systems. No need
to deal with APIs– use configurable business
rules.
5. Secure
o Built-in User/Role Management module,
supports highly secured 128-bit encryption
enabled URL, SSO authentication & AD
integration.
Figure 4: Cloud Service Levels
6. The End of IT Maintenance
The above diagram shows the service levels associated with o Focus on your business application
the various segments of cloud computing. In a Platform-as- functionality/core competency while WOLF
a-Service model it is the just the application that you need maintains and upgrades the underlying
to manage, the rest is taken care of by the PaaS vendor.
technology & infrastructure and manages your
The PaaS manages the runtimes, security & integration,
business solution.
database, servers, virtualization, server HW, storage and
networking making it much simpler for you and allows 7. Flexible Deployment Options
focusing on your business and the application you use. o Hybrid & flexible deployment models. Host the
application in your preferred server: Private
Cloud or just run it from the WOLF On Demand
Why WOLF Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)? Public Cloud or a third party hosting provider
8. Reduced Vendor Lock-in
1. Reduced time-to-market and faster ROI o Own the Business IP via paper license, extract &
o Reduce the time & cost for developing custom save data in your private database & also extract
web-based software by more than 70% as application design in a portable XML format
compared to any standard software with a single click.
development cycle. 9. Cost Effective, Scalable and pay as you earn
o Clicks instead of code – design all the way! o Monthly subscription fee on per user / per
o Business Rules engine to define custom month basis ranging from USD $ 7 to $ 10.
workflow o Scale your application cost-effectively with your
o Ready chart and report templates business.

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10. Leverage the WOLF Partner Ecosystem as-a-Services within days. WOLF also has
o The Partner Model is targeted to drive idea specialized channel partners delivering these
partners, SI’s, ISV’s, and Consulting firms to SaaS applications to customers across regions.
rapidly commoditize and commercialize their
business processes and offer them as Software-

References

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_as_a_service
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing
[3] http://www.wolfframeworks.com/
[4] http://www.keeneview.com/2009/03/what-is-platform-as-service-paas.html
[5] http://crmhelpdesksoftware.com/what-is-saas-paas-iaas-understanding-cloud-computing-lingo/
[6] http://cloud-computing.learningtree.com/2010/08/25/comparing-paas-and-iaas/
[7] http://www.slideshare.net/AspireSystems/going-ondemand-iaas-paas-or-solution-accelerators
[8] http://www.slideshare.net/jcleblanc/foundations-of-a-social-platform
[9] http://www.zdnet.com/blog/saas/a-plethora-of-paas-options/472
[10] http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/21078/1/2010_-_21078.pdf
[11] http://vlele.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/platform-as-a-service-when-it-comes-to-the-cloud-paas-is-the-point-2/
[12] http://devcentral.f5.com/weblogs/macvittie/archive/2010/02/11/return-of-the-web-application-platform-
wars.aspx
[13] http://www.asp-toolkit.com/tag/pricing-models
[14] http://cioresearchcenter.com/2010/12/107/
[15] http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/bookworm/building-information-systems-at-the-edge-of-chaos/
[16] Jonathan Sapir, “Power in the Cloud”, Using Cloud Computing to Build Information Systems at the Edge of Chaos,
2009
[17] http://www.cloudcomputinglive.com/mea/paas.html
[18]http://cloudpulseblog.com/2010/02/the-essential-characteristics-of-paas

For More Information
For more information about WOLF products and services, call the WOLF Sales Information Center at +91 98865 46085. To
access information using the World Wide Web, go to: http://www.wolfframeworks.com

© 2006-2011 WOLF Frameworks India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

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WOLF Whitepaper - The Role of Platform-as-a-Service

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