The software industry is witnessing a paradigm shift in the way software solutions are delivered.

Today, more software companies are emerging with On-Demand (also known as SaaS) versions of business solutions that were traditionally delivered as installed products. However, transitioning to a SaaS model is not as simple as merely repacking an enterprise product. Several unique challenges must first be overcome, including:

Integration with Back Office Applications: SaaS solutions need to integrate with back office systems to avoid duplication of work and create consistency of data across systems. This is quite challenging because back office systems are typically behind corporate firewalls and may expose only proprietary protocols. Integration plans also need to consider the fact that networks or systems may occasionally not be available.

Multiple Client Support: SaaS solutions should have the ability to support multiple clients from a single instance to reduce infrastructure, hosting and management costs.

Performance: SaaS solutions should have the ability to support many users with minimal resources to derive efficiencies and economies of scale.

Security: Hosted applications have specific security challenges because they are often publicly accessible and have a much higher risk of data theft than installed applications. In addition, a multi-tenant architecture creates additional risk since a customer may have access to another customer’s data.

Response Time: Sub-second response time is a requirement for most SaaS applications because Internet users expect pages to load immediately.

Shorter Release Cycles and Ability to Enhance Features: SaaS companies are expected to add innovative features almost continuously since this is a key advantage that SaaS solutions typically offer over traditional installed software.

Usability: Today’s web applications are expected to be as interactive as typical thick client applications. Technologies such as AJAX have become extremely important in this context.

Multi-Browser Compatibility: Since every company has its own standard for supported browsers and operating systems, it is extremely important that SaaS solutions comply with multiple browser platforms and versions.

Manageability: A hosted application requires an infrastructure to support billing, logging and provisioning across multiple customers.

Availability: Continuous, 24/7 application availability requires an investment in the solution’s infrastructure, processes and people.

To address these issues and accelerate a client’s SaaS solution to market, GlobalLogic has developed a proven framework and best practices for On-Demand/SaaS technology.

GlobalLogic provides end-to-end solutions throughout the software product life-cycle to quickly and profitably build a scalable and secure On-Demand/SaaS solution. GlobalLogic’s Center of Excellence for On-Demand Applications provides expertise in:

• Integration with external applications using Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) based Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Extract Transform Load (ETL) and On Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
• Multi-tenant Architecture to support multiple customers from a single instance to reduce costs of infrastructure, hosting, and management
• Distributed data caching and code optimization tools for performance and response time
• Meta-database and load balancing for scalability
• Multi-tiered, multi-layered, role-based security model
• Distributed Agile methods to accelerate time-to-market and provide shorter release cycles
• AJAX-based APIs to provide interactive, professional-looking Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) with a dedicated team of usability experts
• Portability experts to provide consistent support across a variety of browser platforms
• Expertise on various open source software to reduce total cost of ownership
• 24/7 in-house support services to ensure uptime and continuous availability
• Global delivery model to reduce development, maintenance and support costs

GlobalLogic has the right skills, experience, and knowledge to build the next generation of your On-Demand/SaaS solution. Our On-Demand clients include technology leaders such as Acsellerate, CEB, rPath and Varolii among others. GlobalLogic has built a strong technical expertise in:

• Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE), including Spring, Hibernate, JDBC, Java Cryptography, JSP, JSF, and Struts
• Microsoft ASP.NET, including Atlas
• Database skills such as OLAP, SQL Server, Oracle, My SQL, Postgres and DB2
• Open Source tools and technologies, including:
  • Ruby on Rails Platform
  • LAMP (Linux, Apache, My SQL, PHP)
  • Python and Perl
• Testing tools like JUnit and JMeter
• XML, XSLT and XPath-based APIs
• RIA-based APIs, including:
  • Macromedia Flash and Flex
  • Microsoft Atlas
  • Java Script and DHTML
  • Video and audio integration using RealMedia, Windows Media and QuickTime
  • Laszlo (http://www.openlaszlo.org), an open source platform for developing rich Internet applications that can be delivered either as a Flash application or as a DHTML application