Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: A Step ...
Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: A Step ...
Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: A Step ...
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Application-as-a-Service 51<br />
Application-as-a-Service<br />
Application-as-a-service, also known as software-as-a-service, is any application<br />
delivered over the platform of the Web to an end user, typically leverag<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the application through a browser. While many associate application-asa-service<br />
with enterprise applications, such as Salesforce SFA, office automation<br />
applications are <strong>in</strong>deed applications-as-a-service as well, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Google Docs, Gmail, <strong>and</strong> Google Calendar. They typically offer<br />
A user <strong>in</strong>terface.<br />
Predef<strong>in</strong>ed application behavior.<br />
Predef<strong>in</strong>ed data.<br />
Support for any number of client platforms, s<strong>in</strong>ce they run through the<br />
browser.<br />
Application-as-a-service was really the first drive <strong>in</strong>to modern cloud<br />
comput<strong>in</strong>g, but it is based on the more traditional time-shar<strong>in</strong>g model from<br />
years past whereby many users shared one application <strong>and</strong> one computer.<br />
The differences are that we use a Web browser, not a term<strong>in</strong>al, <strong>and</strong> the applications<br />
are typically sold by subscription, not by time. Some are free of<br />
charge <strong>and</strong> obta<strong>in</strong> revenue through advertis<strong>in</strong>g or <strong>in</strong> other ways.<br />
The advantage of application-as-a-service is the ability to leverage an<br />
enterprise-class application without hav<strong>in</strong>g to buy <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>stall enterprise software.<br />
Thus, bus<strong>in</strong>ess functionality typically only available to those who could<br />
afford SAP, Oracle F<strong>in</strong>ancials, <strong>and</strong> other larger packaged systems are available<br />
to any bus<strong>in</strong>ess user for a small subscription fee. Indeed, Salesforce.com<br />
became a multibillion dollar bus<strong>in</strong>ess us<strong>in</strong>g this model, <strong>and</strong> other applicationas-a-service<br />
providers are catch<strong>in</strong>g up quickly, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g many provid<strong>in</strong>g specialized<br />
applications for human resources, logistics management, <strong>and</strong> trade<br />
risk management, to name just a few.<br />
Application-as-a-Service <strong>and</strong> APIs<br />
Many application-as-a-service providers offer API access to their <strong>in</strong>ternal behaviors<br />
<strong>and</strong> data. Their customers need programmatic access to the application<br />
behavior <strong>and</strong> the <strong>in</strong>formation for any number of purposes, such as<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ued
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