Most users interface with the cloud through the upper and lower layers. Consumers and 
business users use their Internet browser to interface with their favorite SaaS apps. Data 
center managers utilize IaaS services to augment the computing and storage capacity in 
their own data centers. 
But what is going on in the middle layer of PaaS? The industry has yet to agree on a 
standard definition. As a result, platform providers use the term to cover any and every 
type of middleware, regardless of functionality or scope. 
We define PaaS as network-based software used for building, running, integrating, 
delivering, and managing applications. PaaS solutions usually include tools, Application 
Programming Interfaces (APIs), and templates that make it easier for application 
developers, managers, and providers to build, run, and manage their software. 
 Source: Stratecast 
 4 January 2012 © 2012 Stratecast. All Rights Reserved. 
Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan
As with other cloud services, most PaaS services are available to users on demand, with 
the PaaS provider responsible for managing the hardware and software that support the 
PaaS functions. 
PaaS Functionality 
Commercial PaaS offers reflect a range of functionality levels, including middleware, 
automated services and fully managed services. Many PaaS services target the developer 
community, with templates designed to facilitate application development. Others were 
designed to help enterprises or third-party providers manage SaaS applications. Providers 
(and platforms) fall into one or more of several camps: 
▪️ Development platforms – The first PaaS services, and some of the best 
known, were launched by successful software and application vendors who 
opened their platforms to commercial and corporate developers. These include 
the Google App Engine, which enables software developers to create applications 
that complement or enhance Google’s own applications. Salesforce.com opened 
its proprietary platform, called force.com, to commercial and corporate 
developers who wanted to build custom functionality into the popular CRM 
software. Microsoft Azure provides a platform for developing, scaling and running 
Web-based applications. 
▪️ IaaS-based management platforms – Under a broader definition of 
“platform,” the basic tools offered by IaaS providers may be considered a 
middleware platform. Some IaaS providers, such as Amazon Beanstalk, have 
enhanced their IaaS services by layering on a limited set of infrastructure 
management tools and functionality, including load balancing, capacity scaling, and 
monitoring. When corporate developers upload their applications into the 
developer’s IaaS, they can access the PaaS functionality to run their software. 
Actual functionality varies by provider, with the scope of functionality usually 
limited to workloads hosted on the IaaS provider’s public cloud. 
▪️ Aggregation platforms – Some PaaS providers offer a platform that aggregates 
or integrates the provider’s own software with users’ applications and even 
commercial applications. One example is a marketplace or store for distribution 
of software developed via its PaaS. Corporate developers can upload their own 
custom apps into the provider’s platform for distribution to employees via a 
portal. The provider may offer wrap-around application services, such as security 
or backup and recovery, as part of the integrated bundle. Similarly, providers of 
IT and telecom management systems have taken their licensed software to the 
cloud, offering platforms that automate billing and administrative functions for 
commercial or custom software, and sometimes enable limited customization. 
Some providers offer hosted versions of their software for enterprises; others 
sell their multi-tenant platforms to third-party communications or managed 
© 2012 Stratecast. All Rights Reserved. January 2012 5 
 Getting More Out of the Cloud with PaaS 
services vendors, who, in turn, develop their own branded PaaS offers for enterprises. HP, Alcatel-Lucent, and Parallels are providers of management 
platforms. 
PaaS Benefits 
The best PaaS platforms facilitate development and delivery of corporate applications. 
Enterprises that select PaaS for development benefit from: 
▪️ Decreased development time – Easily replicable, preconfigured images enable 
developers to minimize routine coding, significantly cutting time-to-deployment. 
Additional application instances can be deployed immediately, for uses such as 
testing or a training environment. Where teaming tools are built into the 
development platform, stakeholders have the added benefit of real-time review 
and collaboration. 
▪️ Deferral or avoidance of hardware purchases – As a cloud-based service, 
PaaS offers scalable resources that can meet unpredictable and seasonal demand, 
eliminating the need to invest in hardware for peak usage. Furthermore, the 
service is budget-friendly, drawing from operating expenses rather than the 
capital budget. 
▪️ Increased quality and control – Development managers can ensure that 
preconfigured images align with corporate requirements for security. 
Furthermore, by using a clean, consistent image of the app for testing and 
debugging, developers can avoid inadvertently introducing errors and vulnerable 
code during multiple test iterations. 
▪️ Test environments that closely mirror the delivery environment –
Because cloud is elastic, applications can be tested at the same scale as the 
production environment, eliminating a common cause of rollout problems.
▪️ Reduced risk in a cloud environment – For all their cost and agility benefits, 
certain shared cloud services, such as Software as a Service and public 
Infrastructure as a Service, introduce more risk—including data loss and leakage, 
unauthorized access, and availability issues—than many enterprises are 
comfortable with. For these businesses, PaaS offers a more controlled 
environment, in which the enterprise IT department—not the SaaS provider or 
cloud provider—is able to establish, maintain, and monitor a consistent security 
profile and performance specifications. This enables enterprises to leverage the 
cloud with confidence. 
▪️ An environment that fosters innovation – Interestingly, some developers 
are fearful that the pre-set templates of most PaaS offers will stifle, rather than 
foster creativity. In fact, the opposite is true, provided the PaaS platform has an 
expansive library of images. Rather than restricting the creativity of developers, 
 6 January 2012

please create me  the def of the PaaS for above but please make it acadimac writting please don't make it look as AI