Thursday, 10 July 2008

SaaS Adoption on the Rise Says Microsoft

At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2008 yesterday, Microsoft Corp. announced that some 550 independent software vendors (ISVs) have enrolled in the Microsoft Software + Services Incubation Center Program since its launch in October 2006.

The Microsoft Software + Services Incubation Center Program provides hosting providers with the tools, guidance and licensing model to help ISVs successfully transition to a service-based delivery model.

Through the Incubation Centers, ISVs are guided through a structured series of business and architectural consulting sessions with the support of an established hosting provider to help ensure their business models and applications are ready to address the challenges of service-based delivery.

“Microsoft realizes that the evolution of the software industry will reach far beyond just bringing software to the browser,” said John Zanni, general manager of Worldwide Hosting at Microsoft.

“Instead, Microsoft envisions a world of software plus services that consists of a unique blend of traditional applications and services available over the Internet. With the launch of the Incubation Center Program, Microsoft recognized that partnerships would be critical in order for ISVs to be successful in the new world of software plus services. Now through the tremendous success of this program, there is no doubt that building an integrated ecosystem plays an integral role in helping ISVs deploy service-based applications.”

The Microsoft Software + Services Incubation Center Program is composed of 20 Incubation Centers globally, including 10 in Europe, eight in North America and two in Asia. In Asia the Incubation Centers are available to ISVs through NTT PC Communications Inc. and Fujitsu in Japan. In addition, KDDI Corp. and GMO Hosting & Security Inc. are also expected to launch Incubation Centers in Japan shortly.