Informatica has released its Cloud Spring 2012 data integration Platform-as-a-Service including the new Informatica Cloud Developer Edition, which brings together a cloud connector toolkit as well as cloud integration templates.

While some industry watchers may ponder as to why Informatica did not release these fairly essential connector toolkit and integration templates updates in an earlier iteration, the company says that developers will now be able to embed end-user customizable integration logic and connectivity into enterprise-grade cloud applications.

The latest updates are also intended to help systems integrators and software vendors to deliver native connectivity to any cloud or on-premise application that has published web services APIs. The new release supports object reuse, sandbox development, and rapid implementation times.

Gartner analyst Yefim Natis suggests that integration-Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) can provide a foundation for hybrid cloud computing, engaging old and new applications and data, on-premises, and in the cloud. "iPaaS is a key component of any comprehensive cloud application infrastructure offering and an essential requirement for future leadership in PaaS markets by any vendor," he said.

Informatica's Cloud Connector Toolkit provides access to a Java-based API to create connectors that will run as sources or targets within the Informatica Cloud. The Cloud Integration Templates provide options to design customized data workflows between apps in the cloud or in on-premise scenarios. The theory is that programmers will use these templates to embed Informatica Cloud data integration functionality into their own individual cloud applications.