Cloud computing portal hoping to be a central resource for user-generated content

I recently came across the Cloud Computing Portal. While the look and feel needs some work, the goal is to become a central source of information on cloud computing. The model is to get user-generated content from the community.

Unlike Wikipedia, it is not obvious at first sight who is behind this portal. The only clue is the URL cloudcomputing.qrimp.com. This tells us that the portal is being hosted by Qrimp, a cloud application builder. …continue reading “Cloud computing portal hoping to be a central resource for user-generated content”

Revealed: The confidence trick at the heart of cloud computing

In part one of this article I introduced Phil Wainewright’s five layer PaaS model.

Phil asked readers to say which layer they would prefer to use for building a SaaS application. Readers had cast 173 votes by May 15th.

In part two I looked at layer one: do-it-yourself and layer two: managed-hosting. Neither is suitable for SaaS ISVs. In part three I move up to PaaS layer three: cloud computing. Might this be more suitable for ISVs building SaaS solutions?

Cloud computing was the most popular choice of Phil’s readers. 27% said they would prefer it to develop a SaaS application. I wonder how many of them realise that cloud computing, just like banking, relies on a simple confidence trick…
…continue reading “Revealed: The confidence trick at the heart of cloud computing”

Want to make money with SaaS? Then don’t migrate your on-premise application to managed-hosting

In part one of this article I introduced Phil Wainewright’s five layer PaaS model.

Phil asked readers to say which layer they would prefer to use for building a SaaS application. Readers had cast 173 votes by May 15th.

Let’s work though these results and see what they mean for ISVs moving to SaaS.

Layer 1: Do-it-yourself (10%)

At the lowest of the five PaaS layers you build your applications with whatever tools and architecture you want. You select, buy and run the hardware to support your SaaS solution.

Perhaps the 10% is because readers said what they would prefer to do; not what they should do?

Geeks like to play with technology! It seems there are still some who think setting-up racks of servers is a good use of their time.

Facebook can borrow USD100M to buy 40,000 servers.

Salesforce.com can invest tens of millions to run their data centres.

You can’t, however, so forget about it right now.
…continue reading “Want to make money with SaaS? Then don’t migrate your on-premise application to managed-hosting”

If you can’t tell PaaS vendors apart, use this five-layer model to classify them

As an ISV moving to PaaS, you need to understand what choices are available to pick the right one. The Cloud Computing, Saas and PaaS market map is a good high-level view, but does not go into enough detail. To understand PaaS vendor positioning we need something more.

Phil Wainewright has a good five-layer PaaS model on the Software as Services blog that is more helpful. Phil splits the PaaS market into the following five layers: …continue reading “If you can’t tell PaaS vendors apart, use this five-layer model to classify them”

Cloud computing, SaaS and PaaS: Understanding the market

Peter splits the market into four main areas:

• Cloud Computing. Turning the data centre into a utility service that provides virtual computing and storage services. You buy processing and storage as you need it. The hardware is of no concern; it appears when you need it.
• Software as a Service. Delivering applications as a subscription service over the Internet. The ISV that developed the SaaS application runs it, buying deployment infrastructure as a service from utility providers.
• Platform as a Service. PaaS offers an integrated environment to design, develop, test, deploy and support custom applications. Following the pay-as-you-go model of SaaS, PaaS does not need large up-front investments, and so is a good choice for ISVs.
• Core Cloud Services. Common features such as billing, security and storage all ISVs need to complete their offer. In the past ISVs would have to build such common features within their on-premise applications. PaaS providers bundle them into a complete offer so ISVs do not have to worry about them.

Peter’s map can only give a first impression of the market structure and the hundreds of existing players. See SaaS Showplace created by Jeff Kaplan from THINKStrategies if you want more details of SaaS vendors and their products. SaaS Showplace currently lists 3,000 SaaS solutions from 650 companies, split into 80 segments.

SaaS ISVs: Know your customers or risk going to jail

In Is jetting to Cuba this summer a bad idea for European SaaS ISVs? I reported on how the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) can impact non-US companies. A European travel agent appeared on the OFAC blacklist for selling Cuban holidays.

The travel agent’s only US assets were the DNS database registrations for their .com domain names. The domain register froze the .co domains following a call from OFAC; the travel agent’s websites disappeared from the Internet.

New US rules intended to prevent identify theft came into force on January 1st 2008. These new rules are part of the US Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT). The FACT rules cover all companies that keep consumer accounts with personally identifiable information. Companies covered by the new rules must comply by November 1st 2008.

Companies will have to check customers against the FACT list of suspected identity-theft criminals. They must also watch customer’s transactions and report anything suspicious (so-called “red flags”). There are threats of fines and even jail for breaking the reporting rules.

FACT does not just apply to banks and financial institutions. As online service providers, SaaS ISVs will also have to worry about these reules. It will take time, and you face complex questions about jurisdictions.
…continue reading “SaaS ISVs: Know your customers or risk going to jail”

Survey reveals 2,548 German ISVs asleep at the (SaaS) wheel!

A survey of 5,200 small to medium-sized German ISVs caught my attention last week. A report by ComputerWoche summarised the findings of a SoftGuide survey on SaaS. SoftGuide is a software and IT services buyer’s guide for the German-speaking market.

• 5% of ISVs do not have a SaaS offer, but plan to launch a SaaS solution soon.
• 49% of ISVs do not have a SaaS offer, and have no plans to add one in the coming year.
• 21% of ISVs already offer a SaaS solution.
• Of this 21%, around half are happy with the way their SaaS sales are growing.

Uwe Annuss, SoftGuide’s Managing Director:

… Most of the companies listed in SoftGuide are small and medium-sized ISVs. The results of our survey show that, for these ISVs, the time for SaaS has not yet arrived.

…continue reading “Survey reveals 2,548 German ISVs asleep at the (SaaS) wheel!”

Is SaaS Spying-as-a-Service?

We Europeans are complex when it comes to privacy.

At one extreme the UK has probably the world’s highest density of security cameras. At the other, tax returns in Norway have been public information since 1863.

Many share intimate details on Facebook and other social networks. When it comes to business data, however, they expect much more.
…continue reading “Is SaaS Spying-as-a-Service?”

Is jetting to Cuba this summer a bad idea for European SaaS ISVs?

While Cuba is a popular holiday spot for Europeans, a 46-year old trade ban puts Cuba off-limits to Americans. Strictly enforced laws prevent US companies from doing direct or indirect business with Cuba.

The US trade ban became a big problem for travel agent Tour & Marketing International. Although based in Spain, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) added them to a blacklist. Why? For selling Cuban holidays to Europeans (US citizens cannot travel to Cuba).

As a result, their US-based domain register blocked about 80 of their .com domains for Cuba-related websites. The domain register gave no notice and refused to transfer the domains (they must freeze all US-based assets).
…continue reading “Is jetting to Cuba this summer a bad idea for European SaaS ISVs?”

Could the Amazon EC2 cloud computing platform squeeze the profits from SaaS applications?

As an SaaS ISV you will not build your own data centre; that most basic of computing services–CPU cycles–will come from utility providers. Amazon’s EC2 cloud computing platform is the current market leader. Microsoft is coming soon; Google and IBM will most likely follow.

Relying on any one CPU service provider, no matter who it is, is a bad idea. There is a real risk that what could turn out to be a monopoly provider will lock you in. Running your SaaS applications will be a major part of your running costs. If your CPU service provider can lock you into their service then there is a high chance prices will rise.

You will have limited pricing power so it will be difficult to pass provider’s price increases on to your own customers; this will squeeze your margins and profits. There is a risk you have a successful SaaS application for your vertical niche, but one you cannot afford to run profitably!

If you allow your CPU utility to lock you in; the future profitability of your business could be in serious doubt.
…continue reading “Could the Amazon EC2 cloud computing platform squeeze the profits from SaaS applications?”