Platform as a Service (PaaS) - what is it and what are the advantages and disadvantages?

An efficient and secure IT infrastructure has become an indispensable foundation for many businesses to conduct their commercial activities. Given the high level of work and time required, it demands a financial investment that is not easily manageable by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) without significant difficulties or a specific market orientation. A solution to this problem is the outsourcing of parts within the scope of Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - a combination that is collectively referred to as Everything as a Service (XaaS or EaaS). This approach offers numerous advantages for individual commercial projects or an entire company, but may also entail specific disadvantages.

Contents:

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - what lies behind this service?
What services does Platform as a Service (PaaS) include?
What are the benefits of Platform as a Service (PaaS) for users?
What are the disadvantages of Platform as a Service (PaaS)?

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - what lies behind this service?

Every modern company relies on external suppliers, service providers, and specialists for its operational activities - whether through subcontractors for the production of materials and components, financial administration for taxes or audits, or simply the maintenance of buildings, machinery, and infrastructure. In an early phase up to around the turn of the millennium, many companies attempted to realize their IT infrastructure solely in-house - however, given the high level of specialization today, particularly in areas such as cybersecurity or network administration, this is practically impossible in all sectors - whether industrial, service, or craft. Outsourcing processes, tasks, and services therefore often represents an essential prerequisite for a productive and secure environment.

As in conventional production, the outsourcing of partially system-critical processes to external providers and suppliers is therefore a mandatory condition for a competitive product offering. In the IT infrastructure, this outsourcing of services is evident through systems such as IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS, encompassing almost all industries that extend beyond purely local marketing and raw material supply. In this context, PaaS refers to the provision of a highly developed and goal-oriented environment offered by professional providers for various purposes. Unlike other models such as IaaS or SaaS, this involves a ready-to-use and at the same time specialised-use oriented platform, within which product development or the management of internal processes can be realised quickly and without the need for investments in hardware or software.

What Services Does Platform as a Service (PaaS) Include?

One of the key differences of PaaS compared to other variants of popular XaaS models is that it includes a deeper specialisation. Its primary purpose is to provide an external and secure environment for software development, allowing programmers to focus on a specific task without having to consider external conditions. For this purpose, PaaS offers a largely self-contained and at the same time, a scalable IT system defined by practical necessities. Some of its tasks and features include:

• Platform as a Service (PaaS) for developing software in specific operating systems such as iOS or Android
• Provision of tools like compilers, GIT, compression, or package management
• Integration into various distribution channels such as the Google Play Store
• Security control and integrated code error analysis
• Focus on programming language, operating system, or Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
• Transparent interpretation of code and User Interface (UI)
• Customised support for any issues that arise
• Storage of divergent version control on multiple branches
• External management of resources, access control, and load balancing
• High scalability of performance and runtime environment

Like Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) also represents a special form of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and overlaps in some aspects. It may include specialised networks and the provision of necessary software, combining these in its service catalogue. However, a key difference from IaaS is that PaaS is significantly more purpose-oriented - focusing less on optimised IT structures for universal purposes like web hosting, and more on individually created and used environments for tasks such as programming, software development, or experimental performance and security testing.

What are the advantages of Platform as a Service (PaaS) for users?

The concept of PaaS encompasses various services that are not typically available as a package. It often combines IaaS and SaaS under a single interface, benefiting both providers and customers with significantly cheaper volume licenses - i.e., a bulk discount for different software products and hardware. Furthermore, PaaS solutions involve outsourcing labour-, technology-, and time-intensive tasks to an external service provider who manages the security and functionality of the systems. Customers can book these at a reasonable flat rate without having to invest in IT infrastructure or commit to long-term contracts for specialised software. For these reasons, PaaS, like SaaS and IaaS, offers high efficiency with low capital investment and often serves as the foundation for future expansion.

Practically, PaaS primarily serves for experimental environments, where the development and optimisation of offerings and IT infrastructures are the main focus. It provides an ideal and scalable platform for various purposes and also enables, for example, the virtualisation or emulation of different end devices. One of the key advantages in this context is that users only incur minimal effort for the provision and management of a suitable infrastructure. Additionally, scalability allows for optimal cost control with high flexibility. Specifically for SMEs and start-ups in early stages, PaaS thus offers a way to cost-effectively create and scale systems before their productive use. A costly transition to a self-managed, customised environment based on requirements identified under real conditions can be done at a later stage, if deemed appropriate or necessary for specific reasons. This way, PaaS protects companies in critical phases such as founding or expansion from potential misinvestments and allows for precise needs and benefits analysis.

What are the disadvantages of Platform as a Service (PaaS)?

Like any shift of time- and system-critical or cost- and labour-intensive processes, PaaS also entails a certain loss of control that can have negative implications in case of difficulties - regardless of whether these stem from a technical, administrative, logistical, or legal level. Two factors are crucial here: Firstly, PaaS is subject to the national law of the provider, which can only be determined in exceptional cases due to the distributed technological structure and the use of cloud servers. Furthermore, each customer is dependent on the services, capabilities, and potentials of their web host, leading to a lack of complete transparency regarding the deployment and implementation of solutions. In practical application, this means that PaaS offers specific advantages in the universal distribution of tasks to professional service providers, but also results in disadvantages in one's own options for monitoring and specialising IT environments.

For these reasons, it is important to carefully weigh the advantages and disadvantages of PaaS just like with SaaS or IaaS, and to consider alternatives such as Managed Server, dedicated Root Servers, or virtual servers. Given the constantly increasing complexity of networks, programming, and development environments, and the looming threats from inadequately secured infrastructure such as attacks like DDoS or SQL Injections, it often exceeds the competence and available resources within SMEs to solely take on the responsibility for IT solutions. Therefore, in a productive environment, it is essential to choose a reliable and competent partner for any collaboration such as IaaS, SaaS, or PaaS. In this context, an important criterion is the provider's experience, as it reflects both the long-term reliability and the continuous expertise of a web hosting provider.

Photo: PIRO4D on Pixabay