In IT, the platform is any hardware or software used to host an application or service. An application platform, for example, consists of hardware, an operating system, and coordinating programs that use the instruction set for a particular processor or microprocessor. In this case, the platform creates a foundation that ensures object code will execute successfully.
A platform is a group of technologies that are used as a base upon which other applications, processes or technologies are developed.
In personal computing, a platform is the basic hardware (computer) and software (operating system) on which software applications can be run. This environment constitutes the basic foundation upon which any application or software is supported and/or developed.
is an environment for building and running applications systems and processes. These can be viewed as toolsets for developing and operating customized and tailored services. The following are common types of technology platform.
Platforms that provide services that are useful to websites and web-based software as a service such as web servers, web application servers, content delivery and networks edge computing.
Mobile platforms include mobile operating systems and environments for building mobile apps. They also include cloud platforms for building mobile backends that provide services to mobile apps. This may include specialized APIs that are useful for mobile app developers in areas such as location services and voice recognition.
Cloud platforms for deploying APIs that are typically built around an API gateway that performs functions such as load balancing , latency reduction and rate limiting.
Robotics platforms may include an operating system for robots with a framework for developing and deploying backend systems and services for robots on cloud infrastructure.
Services that are based on AI such as a voice synthesis service and tools for building your own AI such as a machine learning API. This may also include environments for running your AI that are optimized for machine learning such as a machine learning database.
Platforms built on top of operating systems that provide computing functionality in areas such as cloud computing and virtualization. For example, a cloud computing platform that allows you to scale your services by adding and removing virtual machines as required.
Platforms for scalable storage of objects and files including APIs and value added services such as resilient storage that is backed up in multiple locations.
Application platforms are environments and toolkits for developing and deploying applications , a class of software that is primarily designed to be used by people. For example, a platform that allows developers to build dynamic web applications by executing code and integrating with databases, systems and APIs.
Internet of things platforms may include an operating system for devices and a cloud platform with specialized APIs for internet of things in areas such as device management, IoT security and analytics.
Security services such as firewalls, identity & access management, directory services, certificates, compliance reporting, encryption , key management and threat detection.
Platforms for publishing and managing content, media and documents. These are often used internally in organizations as an intranet site and document management system. They are also commonly used to publish web content such as a newspaper, blog or corporate website.
Cloud platforms for deploying and managing various types of database such as relational, NoSQL and in-memory databases.
Services for capturing, processing, analyzing and visualizing data. This may include tools for ingesting, processing, querying and managing big data.
Platforms for media publishing and analysis with tools such as video transcoding, streaming and recognition.