Practical IT Research that Drives Measurable Results Develop a Position on Cloud Platform as a Service: Assess Opportunities, Risks, and Providers

Introduction  There is real and growing interest in cloud computing even though the term cloud has been overused and overhyped. Enterprises of all sizes are evaluating the potential of cloud computing for greater flexibility, speed, and lower costs in service delivery.  Cloud computing is categorized into three types of externally-hosted services: Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS).  PaaS – featuring development tools, programming frameworks, and run-time environments as hosted online services – is poised for growth and significant market development over the next two years.  Interest in exploiting cloud computing is high both within IT and the business as a whole. Application development managers must evaluate if PaaS: can indeed be used for cheaper and faster development and delivery. allows for development of more efficient and effective applications.  To help the application development manager answer these questions, this solution set will: Define PaaS and Why It Is a Trend to Watch Identify the Benefits, Risks, and Costs Give a Brief Overview of the Vendors in the Market Outline a Business Case for a PaaS Initiative Determine the Best Path Forward DefineStrategizeComparePrepareNext Steps

Executive Summary Info-Tech Research Group3 PaaS is comprised of hosted tools, frameworks, and run-time environments for building and running applications. It fits in between IaaS and SaaS similar to the way a middleware layer will fit between hardware and applications in the datacenter. PaaS is the Development Environment for your own SaaS Ask not what your PaaS strategy should be but what your application development strategy should be. Then ask how PaaS might play a role in executing that strategy. “PaaS Strategy” is meaningless. App/Dev strategy comes first The number of vendors for Platform as a Service is limited. They really cannot be compared directly against each other because they cater to different development platforms and different PaaS use cases. Pick a PaaS flavor that best suits your needs Use the Info-Tech “PaaS Appropriateness Assessment Tool” to see if your app/dev position is a good fit with PaaS. Explore TCO implications with the “Cloud TCO Comparison Tool.” Put together a position with our business case template.PaaS Appropriateness Assessment ToolCloud TCO Comparison Tool Make a case for go/no go on using PaaS for App/Dev PaaS is not ready for many app/dev efforts and many app/dev efforts are not ready for the cloud. In the short term focus on app/dev management maturity and move toward agility and end user self-service. Lay foundations for future cloud-based development

Define: What is Platform as a Service and why should an Application Developer care? What is Platform as a Service? PaaS is one of three services that are typically based in externally maintained compute clouds, the others being Infrastructure as a Service and Software as a Service. PaaS, hosted tools, frameworks, and run-time environments for building and running applications, fits in between IaaS and SaaS similar to the way a middleware layer will fit between hardware and applications in the datacenter. Why should the application development manager care about Platform as a Service? Interest in cloud computing is on the rise among both business and IT groups, and evaluations of PaaS are being considered by more than half of respondents to Info-Tech’s survey on cloud computing. The primary value proposition for all cloud-based services is the speed and agility of delivery of IT applications and services without significant upfront capital costs to acquire, configure, deploy, and maintain hard assets. Define PaaS and Why It Is a Trend to Watch Identify the Benefits, Risks, and Costs Give a Brief Overview of the Vendors in the Market Outline a Business Case for a PaaS Initiative Determine the Best Path Forward DefineStrategizeComparePrepareNext Steps

Don’t let cloud hype make you feel you are missing the rush to adopt PaaS or any cloud service. PaaS deployment is nascent. Most enterprises are in early evaluation stages of cloud services, and a majority have yet to deploy any cloud solution. SaaS has been leading the field in deployment numbers (30%). IaaS is not too far behind at 26% of survey respondents saying they had deployed a solution (when storage and processing IaaS are combined). If an enterprise has deployed some sort of cloud-based service it is likely to be SaaS, such as Saleforce.com. This is not a surprise as SaaS has been around for more than a decade (they used to be called application service providers). Next most likely is IaaS, such as virtual server instances or storage services on Amazon EC2 or S3. n=123 Source: Info-Tech Research Group n=123 Number of Cloud Solutions DeployedTypes of Cloud Solutions Deployed Source: Info-Tech Research Group DefineStrategizeComparePrepareNext Steps

There will be growth in PaaS adoption in 2010/2011 as evaluators move forward and new market entrants gain traction. Although PaaS is the deployment laggard, it is also poised to undergo the most significant growth. PaaS leads the other services among cloud service evaluators (55%). If interest is high in cloud computing, generally it is highest for exploring PaaS. Though SaaS and IaaS have had high profile champions (Salesforce.com, Amazon) there has not been a high profile PaaS champion that catered to the programming frameworks that most developers use. This changed in 2010 when Microsoft (.NET) and VMware (Spring framework for Java) joined the PaaS market. Microsoft Azure launched in February, VMforce (a joint VMware/Salesforce PaaS offering) was announced in May and should be available by the end of DefineStrategizeComparePrepareNext Steps n=123

SaaS, I aaS, and PaaS are not clouds but they can live in a cloud A compute cloud is... Abstracted compute resources (processor cycles, memory, storage) that are typically derived from aggregated and virtualized commodity hardware. This aggregated and virtualized infrastructure is typically owned by an external third party (outside IT). Application workloads are provisioned by these abstracted resources which are elastic (they scale up with need). Cloud service customers share access to these resources (typically via the Internet) in a multi-tenant environment. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Compute services such as processing and storage are offered as a service accessible via Internet. Typically these services are packaged as virtual entities (virtual machines, virtual storage targets). Storage as a Service (cloud storage) is a subset of IaaS. Example: Amazon EC2 and S3. Platform as a Service (PaaS) PaaS is like a build-your-own SaaS service – an application development and run time environment hosted on a compute cloud. Typically it is based on a specific development platform and tools. Example: Windows Azure, Google App Engine, Force.com, VMForce.com. Software as a Service(SaaS) The customer contracts the use of an application which is hosted and provisioned from a compute cloud. The customer typically pays ongoing rental license fees for the applications. These fees vary depending on number or users and cloud resources consumed. Example: Salesforce.com, Google Apps. DefineStrategizeComparePrepareNext Steps

Think of PaaS as an environment for building your own SaaS Platform as a Service is externally hosted tools, frameworks, and run-time environments for building and running applications that are accessed as an online service. These applications are delivered to end users as cloud-based Software as a Service. The term Software as a Service (SaaS) typically refers to application software which is delivered over the Web from an external application provider. PaaS is also software as a service, but the software is the development tools and middleware for building your own applications. Hardware Infrastructure Servers, Networks, Storage Hardware Infrastructure Servers, Networks, Storage Middleware Program Framework (e.g..NET), Database Objects, Web Services. Middleware Program Framework (e.g..NET), Database Objects, Web Services. Applications End Users Infrastructure as a Service Platform as a Service Software as a Service End Users SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS are analogous to the three traditional layers of application delivery within the enterprise -- hardware, middleware and application. DefineStrategizeComparePrepareNext Steps

Since PaaS is a platform for building SaaS applications, SaaS vendors were, not surprisingly, early PaaS market entrants. SaaS Vendor’s Infrastructure SaaS Vendor’s Dev Platform Vendor’s SaaS Custom App SaaS Customers Developer A PaaS offering, such as Salesforce’s Force.com, extends the platform used by the SaaS vendor to additional tenants. The developer uses the vendor’s tools and frameworks to create their own applications. Strengths: Developers can leverage a rich set of tools and data sources developed by the SaaS vendor and do data integration with the vendor’s SaaS offering. As the SaaS vendor adds updates and new feature capabilities to their SaaS product, those features and capabilities are also automatically added to the platform and become available to the developers. User management is automated using the same tools that are used for the provider’s SaaS offering. Weaknesses: The platform may use its own specific programming language (for example Force.com uses the Java-like Apex) that differs from the standard used by the application development group. Lock-in. Apps are dependant on the platform and can’t easily be moved off. Examples include Force.com and Google App Engine. Example applications: To see example applications built with Force.com, see the Force.com App Exchange.App Exchange DefineStrategizeComparePrepareNext Steps In a SaaS/PaaS solution the developer has access to a development platform used by the SaaS vendor. Infrastructure provisioning is fully automated as is user management.

Use enterprise application PaaS offerings to provide enterprise-standard languages and frameworks. Enterprise application PaaS provides enterprise- familiar languages and frameworks. For example, Windows Azure supports.NET while VMforce uses Java and the open source Spring framework. Strengths: Complete automation of the infrastructure layer including automatic provisioning of processing and storage, load balancing and performance scaling. Leverage developer skills. An experienced programmer in Java or.NET can start working in these PaaS clouds with little or no transition cost. Weaknesses: Application mobility. Though the programming languages and frameworks are the same as on- premise programming, it may still be difficult to migrate solutions off the PaaS cloud. Data location. Moving platform and application to the cloud means moving data to the cloud. Some data simply cannot be trusted in the cloud. PaaS Vendor’s Infrastructure PaaS Dev Platform (Java or.NET) Custom App Developer Customers Developer Customers A main limitation of enterprise application PaaS offerings is that, while development can be done on the cloud just as on premise, not all application data can exist on the cloud as it does on premise for concerns about security and privacy. Vendors are addressing this limitation by having the platform extend to on-premise “private cloud” hardware. Example: Microsoft has announced a Azure Appliance for private cloud development. DefineStrategizeComparePrepareNext Steps

Not all development in the cloud is in fully automated PaaS. Also look to IaaS provider services for app development and hosting. Services for developers offered by IaaS providers (e.g. Amazon EC2, RackSpace) are more services for a platform rather than platform as a service. In services for a platform, purpose-built servers and services (such as SQL servers and database objects) are provided by the IaaS provider. However, the developer installs their own programming framework and tools on the servers. Strengths Build-your-own development environment. Developers can use whatever tools and frameworks they want while taking advantage of the speed and flexibility of cloud infrastructure provisioning. Weakness Lacks the automation and tools-as-service of the full PaaS solution. The developer still needs to build and manage the underlying system of virtual servers and data sources. Infrastructure as a Service Customer Platform Custom App Customer Platform Custom App Developer Customers Developer Customers “Amazon worked for us, because I wanted to have control over the machine image and still be able to build my Web dev environment in a few hours at a low cost.” ~ Web developer, IT Consulting firm DefineStrategizeComparePrepareNext Steps

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