Platform as a Service (PaaS) as an Alternative for Commercial Aviation Applications

The development and delivery of commercial aviation applications that integrate and consume aircraft data continues a long-accepted paradigm of point-solutions—deploying specialized hardware and custom software with very specific functionality to address a very specific problem. And while these solutions are effective at addressing individual issues, the underlying systems are generally difficult to improve when the problem changes or new technology is introduced, hampering the operator’s flexibility, slowing innovation, and making it difficult to control costs. However, as demonstrated by the advent and increasing acceptance of Internet “cloud” services currently shaking-up traditional and long-accepted software business platforms in the enterprise, the aviation industry now has an opportunity to make radical changes to the way software applications are built, deployed, maintained, and used in their organization. By embracing these new models, platforms, and technology, airlines can not only enjoy major cost savings, but also significantly boost productivity through operational efficiencies, providing value across traditionally “siloed” organization units.