On-Demand / SAAS

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

	Earlier	Now
Software Delivery Model	Installed Application Requires in-house experts and maintenance team	On Demand delivered over the web. Managed by service provider
Release Cycle	Monolithic with pathces, bug fixes and multiple versions	completely transparent with continuously released upgrades
Architecture	Client Server / Legacy or limited browser access Non standard API's and protocol	Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) with very functionality delivered over the web Standarized
Payment	Pay in advance with high total cost of ownership (TCO) regardless of whether the software is ultimately used or not	Usage based on monthly or annual subscription fee with little infrastructure investment and low TCO

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

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

Our Solution

Eperium India provides end-to-end solutions throughout the software product life-cycle to quickly and profitably build a scalable and secure On-Demand/SaaS solution. Eperium India’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
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

Our Expertise

Eperium India has the right skills, experience, and knowledge to build the next generation of your On-Demand/SaaS solution. Eperium India 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,
Open Source tools and technologies, including:
- Ruby on Rails Platform
- LAMP ( Apache, My SQL, PHP)
- Python and Perl
Testing tools like JUnit and JMeter
XML, XSLT-based APIs
RIA-based APIs, including:
Macromedia Flash
Java Script and DHTML
Video and audio integration using RealMedia, Windows Media and QuickTime