Positioning SupplyBloc Technology as a Blockchain (Platform) as a Service (BaaS/PaaS)
By: Supplybloc Technology
Tags: Blockchain, SaaS, General Content, Paas, Cloud Computing

Positioning SupplyBloc Technology as a Blockchain (Platform) as a Service (BaaS/PaaS)

From Babel to Blockchain… SupplyBloc as a BaaS/PaaS Rosetta Stone

Cloud-based computing has revolutionized the ways in which businesses can develop and scale various forms of infrastructure and software. The more recent integration of blockchain technology into the realm of cloud-computing services is now proving to elevate the field of application development even further. Unfortunately, the incredible surge of new blockchain startups promising to provide cloud services of nearly every sort has made this space of the blind and babel fairly difficult to navigate, particularly for the average business owner. That’s why we’ve decided to offer a brief rundown of cloud-computing, blockchain, and where SupplyBloc’s platform falls into play.

What are the differences between IaaS, Paas, and SaaS?

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a solution for enterprises to essentially house their computational hardware (along with other foundational elements) outside of their own facility. This includes servers, networks, operating systems, data storage facilities, and more. Enterprises can access these tools virtually without having to maintain it on their own. So IaaS is truly a foundation building service for businesses to have total control over their computational infrastructure without the headaches of physically storing or maintaining any of the hardware involved.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) can be seen as the next tier above IaaS in terms of inclusivity of the solution. Basically, PaaS provides a platform for software development that reduces the amount of code required by developers while enabling superior flexibility and scalability. The infrastructure of servers, networks, and storage is either housed by the service provider or by a third party entity. An initial framework and coding environment is then offered to the customer so that they can manage the actual creation of customizable applications, without having to start completely from scratch.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a more consumer-focused turnkey solution that delivers cloud based ready-made software for remote storage and web-friendly functionality. SaaS solutions are a bit more involved than standalone user-facing applications because they provide users with the ability to create and store data or content. Some examples of SaaS are Google Apps, Evernote, and Salesforce.

How is PaaS becoming BaaS in the blockchain tech industry?

When blockchain is integrated into PaaS solutions, they are frequently referred to as Blockchain as a Service (BaaS). This nomenclature is mostly used as a marketing tactic, however it does offer an interesting perspective on these platforms. The crux of BaaS is that they deliver blockchain in a ready-to-use fashion for developers to build customized applications on top of. These services aren’t just platforms for app design, they are a means for any business (big or small) to achieve the optimization and efficiency that occur with blockchain implementation.

Positioning a platform as a BaaS that offers application development toolkits to businesses is important because blockchain isn’t the be all end all of these companies. Blockchain isn’t meant to be the main focus of the businesses that use it for supply chain and logistics management. It is merely a means for fortifying and optimizing the core that these companies already have in place.

So with a BaaS, businesses are able to take part in the blockchain revolution without having to work their way up from scratch and without their customers or partners needing to be involved with or even informed of their developments. BaaS enables businesses to manage the applications and the data within a blockchain platform while the service or third party entity takes care of everything else, including servers, storage, networking, and any other foundational elements. This gives businesses complete control over the application development without having to worry about the often costly and inconvenient infrastructure or learning curves, particularly the ones commonly associated with blockchain technology.

Where does SupplyBloc’s platform fall into play?

Our blockchain PaaS (aka BaaS) allows businesses to adopt agility and flexibility when navigating within the blockchain space. Businesses can plug into the SupplyBloc platform and experiment with blockchain-based application development using our APIs specifically geared toward supply-chain and logistics management. This creates a low-risk, low-cost, and highly flexible environment that small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) can take advantage of in order to gain a technology edge on their competition and to holistically optimize their supply-chain networks.

SupplyBloc is positioning itself as a BaaS (or Blockchain PaaS) because our goal is to create a variety of toolkits that developers within SMBs can utilize to harness the power of blockchain and easily integrate it into their existing management systems. We could provide a slew of turnkey, closed-off software solutions that help SMBs utilize blockchain, but we’d rather empower these businesses from the ground up.

We hope to foster the creation and growth of customized, unique, and powerful applications that help businesses reach new avenues of efficiency that were previously unknown before the advent of blockchain. That’s why SupplyBloc is offering the foundation upon which SMBs can create highly competitive, world-flattening, and industry disrupting supply-chain solutions.