Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)

A PaaS offering provides a development environment on-demand, eliminating the need to buy, build or manage the underlying infrastructure. As a result, development teams can get up and running faster, release applications quicker and get to-market sooner. PaaS solutions are a step up from Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) — in addition to the servers, storage, network and data infrastructure provided in an IaaS solution, PaaS also includes the middleware, development tools, data management and other resources required for application development.  

Despite the benefits for developers, PaaS solutions pose new difficulties for IT teams who are tasked with managing multiple cloud resources and migrating workloads between them. With a portfolio of cloud resources that require different management tools and different skillsets, administrators face a variety of challenges; from incompatible silos of infrastructure and inconsistent service level agreements (SLAs) to security concerns and considerable inefficiency. Under these conditions, migrating workloads between resources can take months, limiting productivity, innovation and competitiveness. 

Consequently, many organizations are turning to a hybrid cloud model for managing their PaaS solutions and other cloud resources. In an ideal hybrid cloud infrastructure, IT teams have a consistent infrastructure and a consistent way to operate that significantly reduces the cost and complexity of managing PaaS solutions and other public, private and edge cloud resources. Dell Technologies has the hardware, software and services experience to deliver a complete solution with flexible consumption options.

Dell Technologies Cloud simplifies deployment and management of the hybrid cloud infrastructure that can support PaaS technology. Providing consistent operations, infrastructure and services, Dell Technologies Cloud makes it simpler for IT teams to manage multiple cloud platforms and cloud-as-a-Service solutions, easily moving workloads between public, private and edge cloud resources as needed.

Components of Dell Technologies Cloud include:

• A turnkey platform with a complete portfolio of storage and data protection solutions as well as consulting, deployment and financial services that makes it easy to manage, automate and secure an application portfolio across multiple clouds.
• Pre-tested, best-of-breed Dell Technologies infrastructure that lets IT team build hybrid cloud infrastructure with independent scaling of storage and compute.
• Data Center-as-a-Service (DCaaS) offered on a fully managed, subscription-based solution that combines the speed and flexibility of public cloud with the security and control of on-premises infrastructure.
• Support for all major clouds that enables enterprises to extend a seamless hybrid cloud experience to providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and 4,200 additional cloud partners. 

The VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) on VxRail platform is the foundation of the Dell Technologies Cloud offering. This jointly engineered platform is the only hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) system with deep VCF integration that delivers automated lifecycle management to streamline operations and reduce total cost of ownership by up to 47%. This solution provides a consistent infrastructure with consistent operations in a single automated platform where both the HCI layer and VMware Cloud software stack are managed as one complete, automated, turnkey hybrid cloud experience.

VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail enables organizations to:

• Eliminate IT silos and reduce sprawl.
• Run traditional workloads alongside cloud-native, container-based applications.
• Enjoy a seamless, unified view while deploying and managing clusters and workloads across the hybrid cloud infrastructure.
• Enforce unified security and networking policies across the entire organization to protect data at every layer.
• Rapidly and securely updated and patch from one known good state to the next with Automated Lifecycle Management.
• Simplify and streamline support with a single-vendor support relationship.

What is Platform-as-a-Service?

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) is a cloud-based environment for developing, testing, running and managing applications. A PaaS solution enables development teams to provision the environment they require without needing to buy, build or manage the underlying infrastructure. 

What are the benefits of PaaS?

PaaS offerings provide a variety of time-saving benefits that enable development teams to speed the pace of application development. Development teams can work on applications for multiple platforms simultaneously and use libraries of pre-coded components that eliminate a lot of manual coding. PaaS solutions also make it easier for distributed teams to collaborate.  

What is the difference between IaaS vs. PaaS?

While PaaS solutions provide a development environment — including operating systems, middleware, and run-time solutions — Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provides computer, storage, hosting, network resources and other infrastructure. Both types of cloud computing services can be consumed on a pay-as-you-go basis, significantly reducing costs and enabling greater scalability.