Software as a Service (SaaS) is getting a lot of attention these days. The
concept of SaaS is not new and has existed for a while. It has been referred
to by other names such as Application Service Provider (ASP), Managed service
provider (MSP), on-demand services, cloud computing, utility computing etc.
SaaS involves exposing applications over the network on a subscription basis
with the pay-as-you-go model. This model was earlier popular with only small
businesses who didn't want to invest heavily in their own IT departments, but
slowly, this model is making its way into medium and large enterprises. SaaS
offerings from companies such as SalesForce.com and Cisco WebEx have made
this move up the chain possible. SaaS value proposition is now pretty clear
to companies of all sizes and SaaS has become a crucial component of IT
strategy for all companies.
Similarly, ... (more)
Why is Software as a service (SaaS) gaining such momentum? What makes the
SaaS proposition so compelling? “Faster time to capability” and “lower
upfront cost” are two of the main reasons for this. For any organization
looking into adding a system capability, once the buy or build decision is
out of the way and the decision is to buy, there are two choices; either buy
a software package and deploy it on premise OR subscribe to a SaaS provider.
Deploying a software package on premise is no simple task. It can take months
or even years to go-live with full functionality and realize ... (more)
Data integrity is one of the most critical elements in any system. Data
integrity is easily achieved in a standalone system with a single database.
Data integrity in such a system is maintained via database constraints and
transactions. Transactions should follow ACID (Atomicity, Consistency,
Isolation, Durability) properties to ensure data integrity. Most databases
support ACID transactions and can preserve data integrity.
Next in the complexity chain are distributed systems. In a distributed
system, there are multiple databases and multiple applications. In order to
maintain... (more)