Gigaom Analyst David S. Linthicum
Executive Summary
In October of 2012 we provided a Sector RoadMapTM for the still-emerging PaaS market that focused on the basics of that particular technology. The examined vectors in that report were application infrastructure, database management, application development, business intelligence, application deployment, and application security. We looked at fundamental features one would expect to find in a development platform because that’s how PaaS was and is being defined by the marketplace.
However, the PaaS market took on some new dimensions in 2013. Private PaaS players saw some strong growth as some enterprises looked to keep applications and data in-house. There is also greater support for the emerging use of devops, better database integration, and better support for emerging multicloud deployments. This builds upon, not replaces, the traditional uses of PaaS to automate application development, testing, and deployment processes.
Moreover, the PaaS market saw increased meshing with the IaaS space in 2013. This included strong showings from the Amazon Web Services (AWS) PaaS offerings and other IaaS-focused players. We also saw the arrival of some new PaaS players, including Oracle, and we got a clearer picture of how PaaS offerings from Salesforce.com and Pivotal will likely exist in the emerging market.
Given all of these developments, there is a need to reevaluate the PaaS market and the PaaS players in terms of how PaaS truly fits within an enterprise application development strategy. New questions are emerging: When will PaaS work? When will PaaS be a challenge for enterprise IT? What is the changing value of PaaS technology as we move into 2014?
This Gigaom Sector RoadMapTM identifies and categorizes the principal disruption vectors at play and profiles a number of significant solution providers in the space.
This report will examine:
- The changing role of PaaS providers, when and why to leverage PaaS technology, and when to use private or public PaaS
- Changing features and functions of PaaS, including those moving to a specific niche such as big data analytics, and the inclusion of specialized vertical processes and data
- Existing solutions and how they rank within the defined disruptive vectors
- The ability for PaaS to support new application development and application migration to cloud-based platforms
- The future of PaaS technology, including market viability and value to enterprises
- Where enterprises should place their bets when PaaS is part of a larger cloud computing strategy
PaaS platform vendors scored against disruption vectors
Key:
- Number indicates company’s relative strength across all vectors
- Size of ball indicates company’s relative strength along individual vector
Source: Gigaom Research
Thumbnail image courtesy of Wavebreakmedia Ltd/Thinkstock
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