The Benefits of IaaS and PaaS Solutions in Healthcare
Are you an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) evaluating infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and/or platform as a service (PaaS) solutions to support your customers?
In this article, we’ll highlight the benefits each solution can provide for healthcare customers, how Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) integrates with IaaS solutions, and the benefits of the Parallels Partner Program.
What Is IaaS?
IaaS is an instant computing infrastructure comprised of scalable and automated computing resources. In an IaaS model, a cloud provider hosts the components present on an on-premises datacenter. These resources are delivered to consumers on-demand, over the internet, and on a pay-as-you-go basis.
It also provides a range of services, which include on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service. IaaS thus helps you avoid the expense of managing physical servers.
What Are the Benefits of IaaS for Healthcare?
Key benefits of IaaS for healthcare include:
- Scalability. Workloads are sometimes unpredictable in healthcare organizations. For example, if there were to be an emergency where the staff were to need all pertinent information available to them, only a strong and scalable datacenter would be able to support this type of need. IaaS simplifies scaling. If a healthcare organization needs additional solutions, it’s much easier to get these resources from the service provider.
- Cost-effectiveness. By adopting IaaS, healthcare organizations can reduce or eliminate their capital expenditures for data storage tools as well as any associated maintenance costs. All required storage bandwidth is offered in the cloud. IaaS customers pay on a per-user basis, typically by the hour, week, or month. Some IaaS providers also charge customers based on the amount of virtual machine space they use.
- Enhanced security. Many IaaS vendors implement vigorous security measures for all the data and applications deployed in their cloud platform. These include intrusion, detection, and prevention to protect healthcare information from falling into the wrong hands.
What Is PaaS?
PaaS gives you more control over applications by allowing control over custom applications created specifically for your organization by inside developers or outside developers contracted by the organization. The only real difference between software as a service (SaaS) and PaaS is the development and control of these applications.
PaaS focuses on application development and usually includes a software development kit (SDK). Medical practices with an IT department that could benefit from custom applications should consider PaaS as a healthcare cloud solution. These types of healthcare practices can benefit from PaaS solutions.
What Are the Benefits of PaaS for Healthcare?
Key benefits of PaaS for healthcare include:
- Faster application development. PaaS enables faster and easier software development, so applications can be built more quickly. PaaS also provides operating systems that applications run on, as well as a variety of managed database options. Together, these factors enable developers to deploy their systems faster.
- Cost-effectiveness. With PaaS, customers don’t have to manage their own virtual machines (VMs), which helps reduce overhead costs. In addition, some vendors charge only for the computing resources used by the application, providing additional cost savings.
- Enhanced security. Many PaaS providers invest heavily in security, technology, and expertise to make their infrastructure and platforms as secure as possible for their customers. However, organizations are still responsible for ensuring the security of the applications they build.
How Does Parallels RAS Integrate with IaaS Solutions?
Parallels RAS is an all-in-one application delivery and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution that enables users to work remotely from anywhere, on any device, at any time.
This cloud-ready software empowers organizations to centralize IT infrastructure management, integrate with Azure Virtual Desktop, streamline multi-cloud deployment, reinforce data security, and improve IT process automation.
Microsoft Azure IaaS provides a secure, fast, and reliable cloud environment to deploy VDI solutions with Parallels RAS. A cloud computing service provider, such as Azure, manages the infrastructure, however, organizations still need to purchase, install, and manage operating systems, databases, middleware, development tools, and other applications that are on the virtual machines.
Organizations are free from having to worry about server hardware and other equipment that typically form the backbone of applications and services.
Azure IaaS is ideal for organizations looking to scale up testing and development, host websites and web applications, or utilize high-performance computing involving complex calculations and big data analysis.
Additional benefits of Parallels RAS include:
- Quick deployment and seamless roll-out. The built-in automation capabilities of Parallels RAS simplify deployment and configuration in the Azure cloud. It includes prebuilt Azure virtual machine templates and configuration wizards, enabling Parallels RAS to be fully configured in under 30 minutes. The solution also offers straightforward and seamless user-enrollment, maintaining productivity when moving local applications and desktops to virtual instances.
- Hybrid and cloud deployment options. Parallels RAS supports hybrid deployment between on-premises and Azure-based resources. A hybrid cloud provides flexibility when computing needs change by enabling distributed workloads between a private and Azure cloud. With Parallels RAS, different scenarios can be implemented easily, such as adding Remote Desktop Session Hosts (RDSH) or additional end users as business needs change.
- On-demand scalability. Maintain high performance for virtual applications and desktops by scaling the IT infrastructure on-demand and monitoring and adjusting resources automatically. Auto-provisioning and auto-scaling workloads can ensure the right balance between resources and compute cost when running on Microsoft Azure.
What Are the Benefits of the Parallels Partner Program for ISVs?
The Parallels Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Program makes your applications web, mobile, and cloud-ready. Through this program, you can add software as a service (SaaS), desktop as a service (DaaS), and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to your service offerings.
Key benefits of this program include:
- Enable remote access to your applications. Parallels RAS empowers ISVs to enable instant remote access to their software from any cloud service. Desktop applications are transformed into full-fledged mobile and web applications without interrupting your software development cycle. You can also access these applications from any device and platform.
- Guide your shift to SaaS. For ISVs, transitioning from packaged SaaS means changing your business model and facing new challenges. The Parallels team of experts has supported many ISVs through this transition. We work closely with you to build a personalized strategy and scale-out plan while creating an optimal IT architecture and reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO).
- Reduce your R&D costs. Traditionally, taking your applications to the cloud means investing in research and development (R&D) to rewrite them to match different platforms. Parallels RAS enables you to make Windows applications portable to any operating system instantly so you can accelerate the time-to-market of your software and cut down the cost of rewriting your code to match different OS requirements.
