The Emerging Role of PaaS In Building Cloud-Native Applications

The current technological landscape for cloud-native apps is evolving and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions are constantly changing to meet the demand of cloud-native architecture. As flexibility and openness in terms of choosing a PaaS solution (without any vendor or technology lock-in) play a larger role, some key questions include:

• Which PaaS solution is the right fit for medium/large enterprises (considering unique opportunities and challenges in each enterprise)?
• How does it help in realizing the vision of migrating toward cloud-native apps (with microservices as an architectural style of business services)?

This blog is an attempt to establish a reference architecture for cloud-native architecture and help enterprise architects to choose the right technology solution for each building block.

Reference Architecture for Cloud-Native Applications

A reference architecture outlined below denotes the key set of capabilities required for building cloud-native apps and helps in choosing the right platform offering these capabilities:

Key Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) Solution Providers

CloudFoundry and Kubernetes are great initiatives towards standardization of PaaS solutions & provide open-standards for cloud-native applications.

Considering the current market landscape with both serverless and other emerging trends, current PaaS solutions can be visualized as below (PaaS powered by Cloud Infrastructure):

Conclusion

Cloud-native apps development is an evolving field and considering the novelty of the solution, industry players and standards bodies (such as IEEE) are still firming up standards and best practices. As there is no silver bullet in choosing any solution, enterprise context, governance and required capabilities drive the recommended platform as a service (PaaS) solution in building cloud-native applications. 

Original Blog Post here.