Software as a Service Software as a Service (SAAS)(SAAS)

Software as a ServiceSoftware as a Service SAAS sometimes referred to as "software on

demand," is software that is deployed over the internet.

Software deployed as a hosted service and accessed over the Internet as opposed to: “on premise”.

With SaaS, a provider licenses an application to customers either as a service on demand, through a subscription, in a "pay-as-you-go" model, or at no charge when there is opportunity to generate revenue from streams other than the user, such as from advertisement or user list sales.

Examples of free SaaS applications include large players such as Gmail and Google Docs.

Other examples: Sales Force (CRM)

AdvantagesAdvantages Accessible from anywhere with an internet

connection. No local server installation. Pay per use or subscription based payment methods. Rapid scalability. System maintenance (backup, updates, security, etc)

often included in service. Activities managed from central locations rather than

at each customer's site, enabling customers to access applications remotely via the Web.

Centralized feature updating, which obviates the need for end-users to download patches and upgrades.

Capital expenditure is reduced by not having to purchase servers or full copies of software.

AdvantagesAdvantages Faster implementation. In some cases the customer

can deploy SaaS more quickly as no local installation is required.

It may remove a non-core activity (deployment and support of the software and its associated infrastructure) freeing up time to focus on core business activities.

Reduced need to predict scale of demand and infrastructure investment up front.

Possible improvements to reliability if the SaaS provider's infrastructure is more redundant or has higher availability than the user would otherwise have.

Fewer up-front costs, SaaS is often easier to discontinue or substitute, reducing switching costs.

Pricing modelsPricing models SaaS applications provide the opportunity to

implement pricing models that establish and maintain recurring revenue streams.

Most SaaS vendors charge a monthly hosting or subscription fee. Opportunities also exist to charge per transaction, event, or other unit of value. These alternative pricing models exist because customers "lease" the software from the vendors and the vendors can view all transactional activity.

Subscription based (monthly fee per seat) . Transaction based pricing (profit sharing). Ad-based revenue (e.g. pay per click).

DisadvantagesDisadvantages◦ Security concerns. The primary concern stems from

the fact that the corporate data is being stored, and controlled, by third parties.

◦ Using SaaS can cause as much harm as proprietary software, since users can't modify the particular software they use, thus, they can't control their own computing.

◦ Service cost, integration difficulty, and technical requirements.

◦ Market reached $6.3B in 2006; still a small fraction of the over $300B licensed software industry.

Application Service Provider Application Service Provider (ASP)(ASP)

ASP SAAS

Application Deployment

Borrowed. ASPs deploy commercial applications from other companies.

Build. Software is developed by the vendor form the group up.

Upgrades and Enhancements

Infrequent. Because ASPs often depend on commercial software providers.

Often. Enhancements may be implemented at SAAS datacenter and made available to all the users.

An application service provider (ASP) is a business that provides computer-based services (such as customer relationship management) to customers using a standard protocol such as HTTP.

Utility computingUtility computing Utility Computing is the packaging of computing

resources, such as computation, storage and services, as a metered service similar to a traditional public utility (such as electricity, water, natural gas, or telephone network).

This model has the advantage of a low or no initial cost to acquire computer resources; instead, computational resources are essentially rented - turning what was previously a need to purchase products (hardware, software and network bandwidth) into a service.

This new utility became the foundation of the shift to "On Demand" computing, Software as a Service and Cloud Computing models that further propagated the idea of computing, application and network as a service.

Cloud computingCloud computing Cloud computing is location-independent computing,

whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand, as with the electricity grid.

SaaS ModelSaaS Model

Platform as a service Platform as a service (PaaS)(PaaS)

Platform as a Service (PaaS) is the delivery of a computing platform and solution stack as a service.

PaaS offers a development platform for developers. The end users write their own code and the PaaS provider uploads that code and presents it on the web.

PaaS offerings facilitate deployment of applications without the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying hardware and software and provisioning hosting capabilities, providing all of the facilities required to support the complete life cycle of delivering web applications and services available from the Internet.

PaaS offerings may include facilities for application design, application development, testing, deployment and hosting as well as application services such as team collaboration, web service integration. These services may be provisioned as an integrated solution over the web.

PaaS ModelPaaS Model

Infrastructure as a Service Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)(IaaS)

Delivery of the computing infrastructure as a fully outsourced service. Managed hosting and development environments are the services included in IaaS. The user can buy the infrastructure according to the requirements at any particular point of time instead of buying the infrastructure that might not be used for months.  IaaS is also sometimes referred to as Hardware as a Service (HaaS).

IaaS ModelIaaS Model

Software as a Secure Service Software as a Secure Service (SaSS)(SaSS)

Software as a secure service (SaSS) is a derivative of software as a service.

Denotes a class of software as a service which emphasises security, not only in the link to and from the service, and the storage of any content by the software providing the service, but also in the security of the user in terms of the ability to make consistent backups and restores of any data stored in the service, in a non-proprietary format.

In other words, security in transmission, storage and control over the user's own data.

It provides security in the link to the service, content storage on the service, and non-proprietary format data backups and restores of data stored on the service.

SaaS and SOASaaS and SOA Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a flexible set of

design principles used during the phases of systems development and integration in computing. A system based on a SOA will package functionality as a suite of interoperable services that can be used within multiple separate systems from several business domains.

Much like other software, SaaS can also take advantage of Service Oriented Architecture to let software applications communicate with each other. Each software service can act as a service provider, exposing its functionality to other applications via public brokers, and can also act as a service requester, incorporating data and functionality from other services. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software providers leverage SOA in building their SaaS offerings.

SaaS data escrowSaaS data escrow SaaS Data Escrow is the process of keeping a copy of

critical software-as-a-service (SaaS) application data with an independent third party.

Similar to source code escrow, where critical software source code is stored with an independent third party, SaaS data escrow is the same logic applied to data within a SaaS application. It allows companies to protect and insure all the data that resides within SaaS applications, protecting against data loss.

There are many and varied reasons for considering SaaS data escrow including concerns about vendor bankruptcy, unplanned service outages and potential data loss or corruption. Many businesses are also keen to ensure that they’re complying with their own data governance standards or want improved reporting and business analytics against their SaaS data.

ReferencesReferencesSoftware as a serviceApplication Service ProviderUtility computingPlatform as a serviceCloud computingService oriented architecture

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