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IBM Smart Cloud

Reinventing application development

IBM’s platform as a service (PaaS), IBM SmartCloud Application Services, is included with, runs on and automatically deploys virtual resources to IBM SmartCloud Enterprise (IaaS). SmartCloud Application Services delivers a secure, collaborative, integrated cloud environment that supports the full lifecycle of accelerated application development, deployment and delivery.

Deploy a new app during lunch hour
and still have time for lunch


What if you could choose exactly the application services you need to meet the needs of your business? With IBM SmartCloud Application Services, you can.

The multifaceted potential of IBM PaaS (00:01:28)
  • Get web applications to market faster
  • Enjoy middleware as a service
  • Develop and test application patterns
  • Migrate easily to public and private clouds

IBM SmartCloud Application Services (platform as a service)

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Application Environments

Accelerate deployment with ready-to-run environments

Application environments provide "middleware as a service" with powerful policy-based management and scaling to accelerate application deployments.

  • Deploy an app to the cloud in minutes
  • Use predefined or custom-built patterns
  • Use best-in-class open Java support

Application Workload Services provide cloud-based access to IBM middleware virtual images and patterns, and is based on proven technology from IBM Workload Deployer (US).

What is a pattern?

Patterns are templates that define middleware and virtual machine configurations for deploying applications that:

  • Use pre-configured patterns or your own
  • Deploy environments quickly without errors
  • Feature policy-based automatic scaling
  • Accelerate deployment with ready-to-run-environments

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Application resources

Reduce complexity with database as a service

Application resources provide a central, shared service for common application and middleware resources, like database as a service.

  • Create a new database server in minutes
  • Grow databases as needed with no CapEx
  • Maintain database resources in hours

Database as a service enables you to deploy database resources with fast self service - so you can respond quicker - and is based on IBM's proven DB2 Enterprise Server technology (US).

  • Reduce complexity with database as a service
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Application lifecycle

Increase productivity with team-based development

Collaborative Lifecycle Management provides a real-time cloud-based collaborative platform for software development and delivery that improves productivity and time to delivery.

  • Set up a team development environment in hours
  • Use cloud-based collaboration for DevOps
  • Configure tools in minutes, rather than days

Based on proven IBM Collaborative Lifecycle Management, our pay-as-you-go service coordinates activities across business and system requirements, design, development, build, test and delivery.

  • Increase productivity with team-based development

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Application management

Take advantage of SAP on the cloud efficiencies

Our SAP on the cloud application management service deploys your critical SAP workloads to the cloud for increased efficiency and agility.

  • Automates labor-intensive SAP tasks
  • Features a library of SAP base images
  • Reduces SAP costs by approx. 30%

Packaged Application Management for SAP handles complicated tasks like change management, cloning for upgrade, and rapid back-up of sites - and is based on proven IBM Cloud Solutions for SAP (US).

  • Take advantage of SAP on the cloud efficiencies
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Integration

Synchronize data across on-premise and cloud apps

Integrate cloud-delivered applications with other applications and resources, whether on-premise or in the cloud, without custom coding or manual processes.

  • Use standard and custom connectors
  • Integrate cloud and on-premise apps
  • Synchronize data and processes

SmartCloud Application Services integration provides a central, configurable cloud-based integration engine for simple, easy and seamless integration, powered by WebSphere Cast Iron Cloud Integration (US).

  • Synchronize data across on-premise and cloud

What can SmartCloud Application Services PaaS do for you?

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Independent software vendors

  • Integrate cloud-delivered applications with other applications and resources, whether on-premise or in the cloud, without custom coding or manual processes
  • Respond quickly to market demands by developing and managing cloud applications with scalable, rapidly deployed database as a service
  • Use trusted IBM brand equity to instill confidence with cloud customers
  • Reach a broader audience

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Developers & IT managers

Developers

  • Write code and develop applications quickly and seamlessly using a team-based, collaborative cloud development environment with Collaborative Lifecycle Management
  • Ensure communication and interoperability between applications easily – whether on-premise or cloud – and increase business value with integration

IT managers

  • Streamline deployment of enterprise applications using proven, repeatable patterns with Application Workload Services
  • Automate SAP tasks and reduce costs with packaged application management
  • Respond quickly by developing cloud applications with scalable, rapidly deployed resources such as database as a service
  • Collaborate like never before

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Line of business managers

  • Improve the quality of SAP production management and reduce costs and lead times with SAP on the cloud
  • Automate labour-intensive SAP management tasks with a library of SAP base images that reduce SAP costs by approximately 30%
  • Automate to reduce costs

The IBM SmartCloud partner ecosystem

IBM is committed to building and supporting a powerful ecosystem of innovative cloud partners that work with IBM SmartCloud Application Services (PaaS) in two distinct ways. First, our partners leverage IBM SmartCloud Application Services to develop solutions for their end customers and deliver them in a software-as-a-service model. Second, the SmartCloud ecosystem significantly extends the breadth and depth of our application development capabilities. For example:

PHP from ZEND
IBM’s partnership with ZEND provides a PHP application pattern that enables the use of PHP with IBM PaaS—meeting the demands of the professional cloud developer community.PaaS platforms

Visit the ZEND website

Services accelerate your journey to cloud

IBM Software Services for Cloud provides unrivaled IBM software expertise and assets to help deploy your workloads in private, public, or hybrid cloud environments. Our seasoned experts will help you tap the power of cloud with:

  • IBM workload pattern technology to accelerate development
  • Pre-built IBM patterns and custom patterns to support workloads
  • Application migration onto an IBM platform to extend functionality
  • Integration of patterns and cloud applications with existing systems
  • Support for custom-built patterns long term
IBM Software Services for Cloud (US)

Unmatched platform flexibility, control and choice

With IBM’s broad and integrated family of cloud technologies, you can get a cloud application platform that’s built to meet your unique requirements. Develop and test application patterns on SmartCloud Application Services, and then deploy applications with:

  • IBM PureSystems: expert integrated systems

    IBM PureApplication System

    Use IBM PaaS in your own private cloud with our expert integrated system for private cloud application management and deployment.

  • Workload Deployer

    IBM Workload Deployer (US)

    A hardware appliance that provides IBM middleware virtual images and patterns to easily create, deploy and manage application environments in a private cloud.

  • Agile cloud computing infrastructure as a service (IaaS) designed to provide rapid access to security-rich, enterprise-class virtual server environments.

    IBM SmartCloud Enterprise

    IBM SmartCloud Application Services PaaS runs on, and automatically deploys virtual resources to, IBM SmartCloud Enterprise, IBM's public IaaS.


All three solutions share common core IBM PaaS technology and use IBM's pre-configured patterns of middleware and virtual resources to make the deployment of applications fast and repeatable.


Infographic: PaaS insights

IBM interviewed people from 1500 companies to learn about the benefits of adopting PaaS.

PaaS Infographic View the infographic (US)

Exploring the frontiers of cloud computing: Insights from Platform-as-a-Service pioneers PDF cover
Download the study Insights from Platform-as-a-service pioneers(1.4MB)

Webcasts

Blog posts on PaaS


PaaS resources

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What is PaaS?

Platform as a service (PaaS) provides a cloud-based platform for building and running software applications without the cost and difficulty of buying and managing the underlying infrastructure. PaaS promises faster, more cost-effective application development and delivery. PaaS is supported by infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and is a key enabler for software as a service (SaaS).

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DevOps and IBM PaaS

DevOps recognizes that successful application development today requires intimate multi-departmental collaboration. SmartCloud Application Services help bridge the gap between development/test and operations processes. Collaborative tools support the DevOps agile service delivery approach, accelerating application deployment from weeks to minutes.

  • Develop applications using Rational Application Developer (RAD) with Collaborative Lifecycle Management service
  • Deploy from RAD using SmartCloud Provisioning to the public cloud, IBM SmartCloud Enterprise, or to your private cloud via IBM optimised Systems
  • Eliminate bottlenecks and accelerate the collaboration between development/test and operations with a lifecycle dashboard view of application status

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PaaS FAQs

What does PaaS offer my enterprise?

PaaS accelerates the development and deployment of web applications by simplifying the installation, setup, configuration and support for operating systems, middleware and application tools. PaaS allows enterprises to focus on building better applications faster, rather than being distracted by the complexity of middleware and infrastructure. Most important, organisations using PaaS retain the ability to customize their applications (which cannot be done with applications consumed in a SaaS model) while enjoying the economy, flexibility, scalability and rapid time to value that cloud enables.

What are the benefits of IBM SmartCloud Application Services?

Benefits include

  • More flexibility and control with an on-demand, pay-as-you-go model
  • Increased agility due to self-service access to application development tools, middleware and databases, all optimised to run on virtual infrastructure
  • Simplified deployment and management of applications with automatic scaling that adds capacity based on load
  • Accelerated time to value by using rapidly-deployed, flexible and scalable resources that empower efficient application development in the cloud

What’s the difference between infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and PaaS?

IaaS focuses on cloud-based delivery of base IT infrastructure and services, including servers (with virtual machines and operating systems), storage, network and security.

PaaS focuses on delivering application development and deployment services, including cloud-based application development and lifecycle management, application environments for running workloads, application resources (like databases) delivered as a service, and cloud-based application packages for CRM, ERP and supply-chain applications.

IBM SmartCloud Application Services hide the complexity of the infrastructure underneath the platform services by managing the virtual machines, storage, network and data centre facilities behind the scenes. This allows users to focus on developing, deploying and managing better applications with powerful cloud-based application services.

How does PaaS from IBM, SmartCloud Application Services, compare to competitors, such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Beanstalk and Oracle Public Cloud?

IBM is the only provider of cloud services that offers all of the following:

  • Enterprise-grade security
  • Open Java support
  • Cross-platform support without fear of vendor lock-in
  • Comprehensive application infrastructure and managed services that enable accelerated development and deployment of applications to the cloud
  • Years of experience managing and hosting mission-critical enterprise applications

What makes IBM SmartCloud Application Services, the PaaS platform from IBM, particularly attractive to CIOs?

CIOs like the fact that we offer enterprise-grade security, open Java support, cross-platform support with no vendor lock-in, and a comprehensive set of application infrastructure and managed services that enable accelerated development and deployment of applications to the cloud.

What does IBM SmartCloud Application Services offer to application development managers and enterprise application developers?

Application development managers will be interested in the remote workstation option, which will allow them to utilise a suite of hosted application development tools to design, develop, maintain and manage releases of application coding in the cloud.

IBM SmartCloud Application Services will run Java EE enterprise applications. Enterprise application developers can easily use our virtual application template to model an enterprise application, saving significant time and cost with pre-installed, pre-configured application servers, database servers, and powerful new IBM patterns (templates for multi-server environments deployed as integrated, atomic units) that streamline enterprise application deployment to the cloud.

Why will independent software vendors (ISVs) want to use a PaaS offering like IBM SmartCloud Application Services?

ISVs will be able to develop code quickly and seamlessly within a global team-based environment. They’ll also be able to reduce costs by provisioning infrastructure as needed and by integrating with existing applications or resources, whether on-premise or in the cloud.