Glossary
Cloud Development Environment
A development environment is a workspace that allows software developers to make changes without breaking anything in a live environment. A cloud development environment takes this same environment, but instead of being installed on a physical hard drive, the environment “lives” in the cloud and is accessed via a browser.
The differences between cloud development vs. traditional software development
In a cloud-first world, software developers are finding it more and more efficient to do their best work directly in the cloud. Cloud development done in the cloud. Makes sense. Traditionally, applications and business tools were developed, built and tested on a physical computer and run on local servers.
For SaaS companies, in-cloud development makes a lot of sense. It’s faster and easier to build cloud-based tools in the cloud environment where they will run, and this is rapidly becoming the industry standard.
Power and costs are also a factor in the move to cloud development. The cost of the cloud has fallen and coupled with that, the level of complexity that developers are using in their work requires more compute power than might be available if working from a standard computer.
Use cases for cloud development environment
There are many use cases for cloud development environments.
Cloud lab as a service
Cloud lab environments take advantage of off-site hardware to deliver simulated IT environments to client businesses. The market for these tools typically comes in the form of Software-as-a-Service. The vendor company handles all the hardware maintenance and upgrades, while the client business only needs to pay a regular fee for the service.
Sales demos
The best way for a new client or business to understand the value of your product is to let them try it out for themselves in a simulated environment. Cloud labs are the most inexpensive way to do sales demos, as clients can access the content remotely over the internet, negating the need for dedicated hardware and software installations.
Cloud sandbox service
When it comes to software development and testing, ensuring that your product works on a variety of platforms and operating systems is vital. Instead of setting up individual environments physically, you can simulate each one using cloud sandbox environments. The result is faster development cycles and shorter time to market.
