iPaaS:Is it a Buzzword or the next big Thing?

Is iPaaS the next big thing?

With the buzz around cloud, the iPaaS (Integration Platform as a service) is gaining ground these days.In the recent years, cloud computing has got a lot of attention in the IT world and cloud has been transforming the IT Architecture and making a big impact on business.

iPaaS will definitely sound interesting to the people who are working in the Integration area and have been feeling that they have missed the cloud ride.Lets get on and see what iPaaS is and what it has to offer( Even if we find out that it doesn't have much to offer, at least it starts with the word "Integration"..:))

To understand what iPaas is,we should first understand a little bit about what cloud offers and how iPaas is trying to put the puzzle together with the evolution of cloud stack.

Currently cloud stack offers 3 layers

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - This is the most basic cloud layer where cloud vendors offer servers,VMs,storage,load balancers,network etc.Examples of IaaS are Amazon EC2,HP Cloud,Windows Azure VM
2. Platform as a Service (PaaS) - This layer provides the computing platform which includes OS,Program execution environment,Database,web servers etc.Examples are Google App Engine,Force.com
3. Software as a Service (SaaS) - The cloud vendors operate applications in cloud which can be accessed via clients.Examples are Microsoft Office 365,Google Apps

The iPaaS seems to be the missing piece in the puzzle.With the rapid adoption of these cloud stacks by various organizations,a new problem which is creeping up is the formation of "cloud silos" which brings in the challenges of integrating various application in cloud as well as applications across enterprise.As new applications move to cloud,there is a growing need to integrate and orchestrate between these applications.To address this problem, a new set of services known as iPaaS is gaining traction which provides the capability to develop integration services on cloud platform.The iPaaS is designed to get you started quickly,develop integration services and deploy them on to cloud.

Put it in simpler terms , iPaaS is a platform for building and deploying integration applications in the cloud to integrate the apps in the cloud as well as with enterprise and manage them.

Gartner defines iPaaS as 'a suite of cloud services enabling development, execution and governance of integration flows connecting any combination of on-premises and cloud-based processes, services, applications and data within individual, or across multiple, organizations.'"

There are many essential features a iPaaS should provide over and above what cloud stack provides.Some of the essential features are

1. Ability to easily develop and deploy solutions on cloud
2. Different connectors to connect to various SaaS applications as well as Enterprise applications
3. Event Processing,Mappings and Orchestration
4. Ability to expose the services as REST,SOAP etc
5. Extension of the APIs to develop new connectors to connect with cloud applications
6. Monitoring and Management Tools
7. A Secure Gateway to connect to enterprise applications
8. Highly scalable and robust

 

At this time, the iPaaS is a great concept which in my opinion might take few years before it matures.Gartner predicts that iPaaS will be the integration technology of future and gradually replace legacy Integration tools.Vendors with established ESB and SOA capabilities are the ones to provide the iPaaS features.Various vendors such as MuleSoft,SoftwareAG etc have started to provide Integration capabilities on the cloud.MuleSoft provides CloudHub as an iPaaS where Developers can download and explore various capabilities.

Over the years,Businesses and IT have spent time and money on integrating various systems using traditional integration tools.Cloud and iPaaS bring new architecture and concepts and organizations should plan a gradual shift towards this where the new architecture coexists with the existing one and gradually transition to end state architecture.SME/Independent departments of big organizations present a good candidate for someone who want to venture into cloud with integration capabilities and try out the iPaaS.



References:
1. Gartner -  (http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/information-platform-as-a-service-ipaas/)