Platform Overview

Applications are the bridge between your business processes and the IT department. An Application Platform provides a set of capabilities that help you get better value from your application portfolio. Application Platforms typically comprise three layers:

Infrastructure: The Infrastructure layer forms the foundation of an Application Platform. Infrastructure provides core security, virtualization, identity, access, and networking services.

Database: The database layer uses these infrastructure services to store, retrieve, and analyze application data. Database systems process application transactions, collect information from multiple systems, and provide tools for reporting and analysis.

Middle Tier: The middle tier provides business logic and connects multiple systems and applications with each other. In this layer, Application servers handle transactions between applications and systems, Enterprise integration services make disparate systems work together, and Workflow services define business processes.

Some considerations when choosing an Application Platform are:

Cloud Computing: All Platform elements should run seamlessly on premises or in the cloud. Cloud computing provides just-in-time provisioning and scaling of resources on shared hardware. This reduces time and the cost of IT.

User Experience: Application Platforms should also enable users to have pervasive access to applications from their PCs, phones and browsers.

Management: Ideally an Application Platform should have unified and consistent management tools to manage clients, services, and databases.

Development Tools: Finally, an Application Platform should also have a uniform development experience with a holistic lifecycle approach to improve time to market.

When all the elements of a platform are integrated, it creates the best experience for users, managers, administrators, and developers.