Just when you thought you had a grip on your techie acronyms, along comes another one that experts predict spells the future of software development. The good news is that this one has the potential to build new business opportunities, too.

Platform-as-a-service, or PaaS, is essentially a virtual tool bag with all the high-tech gadgetry you need to build, test and deploy custom software for every imaginable application. Rather than buying and installing application building blocks on their own hardware, PaaS users tap into Web-based integrated development environments such as .Net or Java to quickly build exactly what they want.

http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/313864/paas_delivers_virtual_toolbox

“Think of PaaS as a sandbox where you can build an application that, once built, you can also run on the same [Web-based] platform,” CEO of Author Solutions, Kevin Weiss, said