11 Dec 2008,Bangalore:The idea that busi nesses don’t necessarily have to own software applications, keep them on company servers, and employ people to run them is picking up. In the fast-growing world of Software-as-aService (SaaS), companies — especially small and medium businesses — are increasingly subscribing to business software, rather than buying them as shrinkwrapped products. And that`s attracting new players with niche offerings.
iViZ Techno Solutions, an information security start-up, for instance, said on Wednesday it has begun to offer on SaaS basis what it calls ‘Green Cloud Security’, an on-demand penetration testing for software applications, IT networks and governance compliance.
The company says it has discovered new classes of vulnerabilities in many popular anti-virus softwares, such as AVG, FSecure (F-Prot), Sophos, ClamAV, BitDefender and Avast. To close these holes, the company has come up with an artificial intelligence-based technology that simulates hackers to find all possible attack paths and suggest remedies.
The initial idea was to sell Green Cloud Security (GCS) as a piece of licensed software, said Bala Girisaballa, VP and marketing head of iViZ, but the company figured out that a niche product such as GCS would work better on the SaaS model with subscribers paying a monthly/quarterly subscription fee. “Corporates would not like to be saddled with one more tool and to have to hire people to run it,” he explained.
To be sure, SaaS today generates a miniscule Rs. 110 crore revenue in India, with uptake mostly among SMBs, but it is growing at a rapid clip at 77 per cent compounded annual growth rate. Indian software product companies have begun to see the model as ideal for them to compete against muchlarger multinational software product companies.
Industry analysts say it is only a matter of time before businesses of all sizes move from traditional on-premise software to the SaaS model. Indian enterprises, for instance, have taken wholeheartedly to Web conferencing and collaboration, if for no other reason then at least as a cost cutting measure. As a result, Webex Communications which offers these services on a SaaS model has built up a large subscriber base, garnering nearly half the market share in India.
Homegrown ERP company Ramco Systems too has had much success with the SaaS model after it launched its ERP on the ondemand model early this year. Ramco says it already has over 150 customers in India.
Managed Security Service Providers are also getting into the SaaS act, offering to secure networks, IT hardware, software and remote offices for a monthly or annual fee.
Source:
http://www.dc-epaper.com/dc/dch/2008/12/11/index.shtml?ArtId=017_006&Search=Y
iViZ Techno Solutions, an information security start-up, for instance, said on Wednesday it has begun to offer on SaaS basis what it calls ‘Green Cloud Security’, an on-demand penetration testing for software applications, IT networks and governance compliance.
The company says it has discovered new classes of vulnerabilities in many popular anti-virus softwares, such as AVG, FSecure (F-Prot), Sophos, ClamAV, BitDefender and Avast. To close these holes, the company has come up with an artificial intelligence-based technology that simulates hackers to find all possible attack paths and suggest remedies.
The initial idea was to sell Green Cloud Security (GCS) as a piece of licensed software, said Bala Girisaballa, VP and marketing head of iViZ, but the company figured out that a niche product such as GCS would work better on the SaaS model with subscribers paying a monthly/quarterly subscription fee. “Corporates would not like to be saddled with one more tool and to have to hire people to run it,” he explained.
To be sure, SaaS today generates a miniscule Rs. 110 crore revenue in India, with uptake mostly among SMBs, but it is growing at a rapid clip at 77 per cent compounded annual growth rate. Indian software product companies have begun to see the model as ideal for them to compete against muchlarger multinational software product companies.
Industry analysts say it is only a matter of time before businesses of all sizes move from traditional on-premise software to the SaaS model. Indian enterprises, for instance, have taken wholeheartedly to Web conferencing and collaboration, if for no other reason then at least as a cost cutting measure. As a result, Webex Communications which offers these services on a SaaS model has built up a large subscriber base, garnering nearly half the market share in India.
Homegrown ERP company Ramco Systems too has had much success with the SaaS model after it launched its ERP on the ondemand model early this year. Ramco says it already has over 150 customers in India.
Managed Security Service Providers are also getting into the SaaS act, offering to secure networks, IT hardware, software and remote offices for a monthly or annual fee.
Source:
http://www.dc-epaper.com/dc/dch/2008/12/11/index.shtml?ArtId=017_006&Search=Y
