Gartner: Cloud service type demarcation begins to blur

cloud-based infrastructure, or service (IaaS), is the leasing of storage and computing power from a service provider to the user via an Internet connection. Similarly, software as a service (SaaS) is used to access applications hosted in the cloud.

Platform as a service (PaaS) is a bit like between the two, providing an application development and hosting platform in the cloud. In many ways, PAAs combines elements of infrastructure-services and software and services.

But recently, Gartner researcher John Rymer, after closely tracking the PAAs market, said the boundaries between IaaS, PAAs and SaaS began to blur.

Some of the leading IaaS companies, such as Amazon Cloud computing services, are adding PAAs-like functionality to their products. For example, Amazon's recently released Opsworks and services such as elastic beanstalk and CloudFront make it easier to deploy and extend applications in its cloud computing. SaaS Pioneer Salesforce.com is aggressively promoting its integrated PAAs offerings: Force.com and Heroku.

The market for IaaS and SaaS remains strong, but in these areas more and more suppliers are moving to the PAAs market, Rymer says: "These patterns are being used more and more." ”

Rymer says the blurring of the boundaries between IaaS, SaaS and PAAs is largely driven by several factors. On the one hand, suppliers are trying to expand their service offerings to attract a wider range of customer base. Second, users are using cloud computing in new ways, and they expect to get the functionality they want from their suppliers. Rymer divides PAAs users into three categories:

Coding personnel

These application developers want a simple platform to develop applications without worrying about the configuration of the infrastructure that these applications are running, they just want to program in their chosen programming language (Java,. Net, Ruby, Python, and so on). A variety of pure PAAs providers are also serving the market, including Cloudbees, Engine Yard, Heroku, and even Oracle.

DevOps Personnel

These developers want to be able to quickly build and deploy applications, but they still want to have some control over the operational infrastructure, especially for large applications. "Typically, when faced with large applications, they want to resize virtual machines, storage, and other components," he says. "These are ideal customers for IAAS vendors trying to join PAAs-like functionality."

Quick Developers

These developers build applications, but they are not coders. Vendors such as force.com provide tools that are useful to these users, with intuitive visualization that allows users to build applications without coding in a programming language. Force.com is an example of how this function is implemented.

Many of these types of developers need some form of cloud computing platform, not just a pure IaaS, SaaS, or PAAs, so the boundaries between these cloud services are converging. Application developers create opportunities for vendors to make the effort to differentiate their services to attract more customers.

Not just the industry's big brands, such as Amazon and Salesforce.com, are adding PAAs-like functionality to their products. Many small suppliers are also starting to enter the field.