LOGIN | REGISTER NOW | SUBSCRIBE
 
 
News on Monday
more>>
SharePoint Tech Report
more>>


   

 
 
Download Current Issue
ISSUE 7/1/2009 PDF

Need Back Issues?
DOWNLOAD HERE

Receive the print Edition?


 
A knockout blow for Borland?
MicroFocus has upped its offer for Borland Software to $1.50, hoping to chase off a mystery suitor also pursuing the ALM vendor.
07/06/2009 12:26 PM EST

Is the mystery Borland suitor Serena?
Borland software is considering an offer from another company after a preliminary deal with MicroFocus. Is Serena the new company?
06/30/2009 01:55 PM EST

Windows 7 - An eBayer's dream product?
Windows 7 pre-orders can make people money on eBay.
06/29/2009 03:48 PM EST

 

Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conf.
7/13/2009 to 7/16/2009
New Orleans
Microsoft

OSCON (Open Source Convention)
7/20/2009 to 7/24/2009
San Jose
O'Reilly Media

XBRL Technology Workshop & Summit
7/28/2009 to 7/30/2009
Santa Clara
XBRL US

ACM SIGGRAPH
8/3/2009 to 8/7/2009
New Orleans
ACM SIGGRAPH

OpenSource World (formerly LinuxWorld)
8/12/2009 to 8/13/2009
San Francisco
IDG World Expo


 
print Printable version 
Most Read Latest News Blog Resources
Kapow automates website data retrieval
Kapow Technology's Web Data Server 7.0 can be used to create modules that navigate through...

Telerik looks to boost 3D for Silverlight
In a new release of its RadControls component suite, the company introduced a 3D charting ...

Oracle's Fusion 11g lays groundwork for ERP platform
Fusion's components are standards-based and integrated, but some abilities are lost if non...

Digg!  Digg
Reddit  Reddit
Slashdot  Slashdot
Share on facebook  Facebook
Share on Twitter  Twitter

Platform-as-a-Service Depends on Integrations


Salesforce's new platform raises questions about coupling services

By Alex Handy
October 8, 2007 — 
For platform-as-a-service to work, it all comes down to integrations.

When Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff announced his company's new Force.com platform-as-a-service site in mid-September, his employees spent time assuring that integrations were at the heart of this new platform. But these integrations aren't all coming from Salesforce itself; many of the company's highly touted customer integration projects were completed by third-party developers who now make their living by tying internal and external applications together.

But that's all part of the plan, said Peter Coffee, Salesforce’s director of platform research and former eWeek columnist. He explained that Salesforce offers consumable APIs for developers who wish to write their own integrations, but third-party integration solutions abound. Cast Iron Systems has even developed a network appliance to do the job.

The platform launch was accompanied by the announcement of new application construction tools. At the heart of the Force.com development environment is Salesforce's Apex programming language and its new Visualforce user interface design tool. Apex, which was originally introduced at Salesforce's 2006 Dreamforce convention last fall, creates functional code that in practice works like a stored procedure. These procedures can be coupled together into Web pages using Visualforce. Applications can then be debugged through a new Eclipse plug-in designed to connect to the Force.com system internals.

Salesforce is banking heavily on the new Force.com platform as a new contender in the field of enterprise application platforms, and not just as a new place for startups to build their software. When asked if Salesforce was advocating the removal of customers’ old infrastructure to be replaced by Force.com, Coffee said, “I don't think we would ever tell people that's something they need to do. The entire point of what we've been trying to make clear in the integration area is that it's not an either-or proposition, [but rather] ‘Where's the best place to make that new investment?’”

Denis Pombriant, managing principal at analyst firm Beagle Research and former managing director of the CRM practice at research firm Aberdeen Group, said the Force.com platform-as-a-service is a natural progression from software-as-a-service. “With the introduction of Force.com and some of the other tools we've seen recently, virtually any application you can think of can be built using on-demand development and deployment technology. There are a lot of applications that haven't been [formally] built in an organization, or are [built on] spreadsheets or PC tools. Those tend to be separate from the IT superstructure. Those applications also tend to be maintained at the department level, and if someone leaves or gets hit by a bus, you may not have the wherewithal to maintain that,” said Pombriant.

These applications, he added, are perfect candidates for moving over to the new Force.com platform. Therefore, said Pombriant, Salesforce's new platform isn't just for developers starting from scratch on new applications.

Pombriant expects the most likely customers for Salesforce's new platform to be those that have little time and money to spend on critical application development. When it comes to integrations, he said, these same customers are much more likely to need tailored solutions. “I think there is not one clear path, but there are probably two or three. These paths are very well paved,” said Pombriant. Those paths flow through the Salesforce API, through third-party solutions from companies like Informatica or integrations consultant firm Bluewolf.

When asked if the market was ready for a platform-as-a-service, Pombriant said, “Economics are always going to drive this market. There's a strong demand for it that is more financially and economically responsible to the organization. I think we're probably at a good time for them to begin rolling out this tech. They have some very, very large customers, and those are the people propelling them to build these new tools and services. It's a question of time before the smaller ends of the market embrace it.”


Share this link: http://www.sdtimes.com/link/31199
 

Add comment


Name*
Email*  
Country     


  • Comment
  • Preview
Loading