Which of the following options best describes the capabilities provided by PaaS?

PaaS, or Platform as a Service, primarily provides a development and deployment environment in the cloud. It allows developers to create applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure, such as servers and storage, which are managed by the PaaS provider. This means that users can focus on writing code, managing databases, and deploying applications, while the platform handles issues like scaling, load balancing, and application health monitoring. Essentially, PaaS is designed to streamline the development process by offering a built-in framework and tools for building applications efficiently within a cloud environment.

In contrast, full infrastructure management refers to IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), where users have more control over the infrastructure layer but also bear more responsibility. Access to web-based applications pertains to SaaS (Software as a Service), where end-users interact with software over the internet without managing the infrastructure or platform on which the software runs. Data storage solutions can be provided by various services including cloud storage offerings, but they do not encapsulate the full scope of what PaaS provides, which is a comprehensive environment for application development and deployment.