According to VentureBeat, adoption of platform-as-a-service (PaaS) will increase steadily due to its benefits of costs reduction, software development, scalability and on-demand.
In the arena of cloud computing, there are essentially three types of flavours available namely infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and Software-as-as-service (SaaS).
IaaS means the provider only provides the infrastructure (computing resources such as storage, network and CPU) and implementers have to deploy own platform such as the operating system. There isn’t many IaaS providers out there, a typical one would be Amazon.
PaaS means the provider provides the platform (such as OS, virtualisation, middleware and libraries) which sits on top of infrastructures. Platforms are usually a split between Microsoft and Linux. Windows Azure is the de-facto PaaS for Microsoft technology while for Linux, you have the choices of Engine Yards, Redhat’s OpenShift, Google App Engine, Salesforce’s Force.com and etc. PaaS allows software developer to directly deploy application based on selected programming language of which the platform supports.
The survey found that 80.4% think that adopting PaaS will enjoy operational benefits, 75.1% think that it will benefit software development while 62% think that it will also benefit costs reduction. (Some respondents actually agreed on all three benefits).
The most popular applications which are expected to be deployed on PaaS are mobile, eCommerce and social. 2 out of 3 respondents use or plan to use PaaS (by next year).
SaaS needless to say, is the most common buzz word we have heard recently. It means that the application is deployed onto the web with 99% of up-time service guaranteed. Users can access the application anytime and anywhere around the globe. It also comes with different mutations such as ITMaaS(IT Management-as-a-service),IAMaaS (Identity and Access Management-as-a-service),SECURaaS (Security-as-a-service) and etc.
Adoption of SaaS is not heavy yet in Malaysia. The prime reason for this is the availability of cheaper and conventional alternative desktop software in the market coupled with low-cost services from distributors and resellers – middlemen are still willing to take risks by continuing to provide services for desktop software services.
For consumers in Malaysia particularly those in the SMB, the primary concern is always about costs. As long as the solution works and there is someone to support, they don’t actually need cloud computing installed application.
The second reason is the culture of payment. Not many are comfortable with buying software services online with monthly subscription using electronic payment – not many companies have the habit of buying things officially using the credit card.
To encourage SaaS adoption, not only providers must intensify localised marketing efforts, it must also provide some sort of ROI calculator as tool and enterprise-driven online payment. Without these, coupled with negative economical sentiments, adoption rate is not expected to sky-rocket within the near future.
