Suresh Sambandam

This is Part 2 in my series on the topic of PaaS (Platform as a Service) and in this post I cover why PaaS for enterprises is more than just DevOps and a larger "technology convergence" in the core "Software Engineering" area is leading this perfect storm called PaaS. The first part is: What is PaaS all about? - Part 1: It's about Abstraction Before I go deep into this topic, I want to clarify "technology convergence" from "programming environment optimization" primarily in the context of this post. The programming environment optimization is more commonly referred as "DevOps". This picture from Wikipedia describes the problem space of "DevOps". (Check out this post on: What is this DevOps thing, anyway?) To deliver agile projects with continuous integration approach significant coordination is required between Software Engineering, QA and Release management teams. ... (more)

Cloud, PaaS and the Rise of the Visual Developers

This is part 3 of my post in the PaaS Series. My earlier posts in this series are : Part 1:  It's all about Abstraction Part 2: PaaS for enterprises is more than DevOps! Cloud Computing , more specifically Platform as a Service (PaaS) is changing the business app developer demographic forever. Or should I say that, PaaS is reviving or giving a new lease of life for productivity focused business developers. The kind that existed during the Client-Server paradigm empowered by Power Builder, Developer 2000, Visual Basic and the likes. Pardon me for using a poor - Jurasic metaphor! ... (more)

CIO Question: What is the Right PaaS for Enterprises?

There are a number of the Cloud Application Platforms out there. This Gartner's report on PaaS lists some prominent PaaS platforms like Azure, App Engine, Engine Yard, Force.com, Heroku, OrangeScape and few more. And, that makes the life of CIO difficult in choosing the right PaaS for his enterprise. A logical approach would be to look at key enterprise needs &  motivations. Unlike a software vendor, an end-user company i.e. an enterprise, is not in the business of making money through software. Enterprises make money from their core business, like making cars, selling insurance... (more)

What Is PaaS All About? - Part 1

This is the first part of the multi-part series on "What is PaaS all about?" Let’s start by looking at the “Platform” story prior to Cloud. Enterprise IT did a lot of heavy lifting. They handcrafted the platform by combining various products such as App Servers, Web Servers, Databases, Middleware, Integration Servers, Portal Servers, and Workflow Engines. Not only did Enterprises IT create a unique combination for them, they also ended up redundantly deploying it for various projects within the enterprise. There was no common or central runtime platform, although they always inte... (more)

Visual PaaS: If Data Is King, Then Logic Is Queen

Or, should this title be If Data is Queen, then, Logic is King - Queen (data) being the protected - in Object Oriented terms! Jokes apart, in the last post, I talked about the importance of Data Structure, i.e., data model and now you can understand why it is logical and important to talk about Business Logic. You can't imagine any business application without a business logic/rule. Yet, business rules are the most abused term and the least understood. Everybody knows the importance of it, but sadly everyone has a cliched understanding. In this post, I set out to articulate busi... (more)