What is an application platform?

An application platform is an integrated set of tools and services for testing, deploying, and managing software (applications). Unlike application development tools that support only the testing phase, an application platform provides tools to consistently manage software through its entire lifecycle. 

The application platform comprises the various components developers need to develop and run both applications and AI. This includes infrastructure management to support scalability, continuous integration/continuous development (CI/CD) tools, monitoring tools, service mesh, application programming interfaces (APIs), GitOps, runtime and deployment, security tools, and more. 

Your application platform should create consistency across environments. Consistency ensures your application looks and feels the same in development and testing through to production—whether you deploy in a cloud, at the edge, on premise, or all 3. It should be unified—with a unified control set, control plane, and observability, so you can maintain visibility and control from 1 central toolset. It should deliver applications to multiple locations and provide the same experience when building, developing, securing, deploying, and managing those applications regardless of the environment.

Accelerate app development with Red Hat OpenShift

An application platform serves as the connective tissue between various phases of the application lifecycle. It lets engineers streamline application development, deployment, and operations. Application platforms provide an abstraction layer for complex applications, which allows developers to focus on code rather than infrastructure, thus increasing productivity.

There are many possibilities for building, running, and maintaining applications. Conventional methods with multiple, sprawling tools introduce complexity and stifle innovation. An integrated application platform that offers flexibility, scalability, continuous development, and built-in security supports developers in rapidly delivering new ideas and enhancing customer experiences.

Benefits of using an application platform include the ability to:

• Accelerate. Application platforms let developers simplify operations using prebuilt services and automated infrastructure management, reducing the time required to develop and deploy new applications. It lets teams choose from a variety of integrated tools without sacrificing visibility requirements and integrates a consistent approach to compliance and security, regardless of where applications or AI are deployed. 
• Scale. Application platforms let developers work with containers and virtual machines (VMs)—and scale as needed and where needed—whether on premise, in the cloud, or at the edge. An effective application platform should include autoscaling features that automatically adjust compute resource usage as the business demands.
• Manage. Application platforms offer greater flexibility with automated infrastructure management and reduce operational complexity, creating consistent functionality and deployment across diverse environments. 

An effective application platform creates consistency across environments and throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC). It supports integrations with tools for developer, security, and operations teams and provides transparency into how those tools are used. It establishes and enforces security standards and policy management throughout the SDLC and regardless of where applications are deployed.