In a very reasonable post, the unreasonable men discuss PaaS.
Background: PaaS is platforms as a service. It’s about offering an online platform complete with the application development, data storage and other tools required to run multi-tenanted, massively scalable applications. SaaSweek says it may just be a fad. The unreasonablemen concur with my viewpoint that theirs is very much a head in the sand perspective.
As the UM point out – why would anyone recreate all the boring backend stuff, when they can simply utilise the platform providers services (and already built community system) and hook into it. It is the ultimate value proposition behind API’s. It’s one of the reason that Facebook works, it’s why Force exists, it’s the ultimate value of what we’re talking about.
PaaS enables aggregation, it leverages off core competencies while leaving other to handle things which are peripheral to the core business offering. It is, to subvert a metaphor one of my colleagues uses, achieving the sizzle from someone elses sausage (thanks Pete).
What isn’t clear is who will have the clout to create the uber PaaS. Some would say Google, some would say a MSFT/Facebook mashup, some would say an aggregator yet to emerge. Whichever way you slice or dice it, PaaS makes sense….
