Guest View: Siren Song: Appliances Lure Back SaaS Faithful

By Wynn White

July 15, 2008 —  (Page 1 of 3)

Software as a service (SaaS) has been red hot in certain market sectors for a number of years and is commonly believed to be the delivery model of choice for small and medium-sized enterprises. Ease of use, fast deployment and low upfront costs are not in dispute. SaaS is an attractive solution for many; however, it is not the panacea for software adoption in the medium enterprise, principally because SaaS just doesn’t work well for all applications.

A case in point is systems management. There are numerous management functions that can’t be done over a WAN—the protocols are simply not supported. Coupled with real issues around network latency and security, comprehensive systems management through a traditional SaaS model becomes difficult at best, and in some cases, nearly impossible.

Even the bloom of subscription-based pricing has begun to fall off as more and more studies show that while attractive up front, the pricing model can prove costlier over the long run when compared to traditional software licensing models. How can one get the ease of use and rapid deployment of SaaS while keeping full functionality and being affordable? Turn the pages of technology’s brief history and look to the appliance form factor.

In theory, the appliance model is ideal for simplifying any server application by minimizing the tasks typically associated with installation, configuration and maintenance. The customer receives all service and maintenance from the application vendor, eliminating the requirement to manage multiple maintenance streams, licenses and service contracts. The software appliance could be sold as a single-point solution, becoming a viable, cost-effective alternative to SaaS.

The appliance model was heralded with grand promises in the 1990s, only to quickly fall into ignominy as a result of simplistic, haphazard couplings between software and hardware that lacked many of the advantages originally touted. At the time, customers and vendors alike abandoned the appliance model amidst broken promises of simplicity and cost effectiveness.

Like many in the industry, my own relationship with appliances dates back to those disappointments of the early days, when big enterprise players like Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Oracle and others were installing proprietary software on Dell or their own branded hardware and shipping as so-called “appliances.” These products were really pre-installed and configured servers, saving only the time taken to get a new server up and running.

Related Search Term(s): SOA & SaaS

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