Speedy and SaaS-y: SWsoft buys Sphera to deliver automation software on-demand
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 9/25/2007 2:19:00 PM
Through acquisition, SWsoft will merge Sphera Corp. with its automation software business unit that powers tens of thousands of servers for businesses and service providers worldwide.
Sphera has automation, provisioning, virtualization, and management software for hosting companies, telecoms, and enterprises. It has been a pioneer in developing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and hosting solutions since its founding in 1999, and has partnerships with IBM, Microsoft, and Mitsui.
Industry analyst IDC predicts SaaS software revenues will reach $10.7 billion by 2009.
"We're building a broader solution set and customer base as a technology provider, using a standards-based approach to enable the delivery of SaaS by application developers and service providers," says Serguei Beloussov, CEO of SWsoft. "Through our three recent acquisitions, we estimate we will be able to reach nearly 1.5 million additional business customers through our ISV and service provider partners."
Under a SaaS model, software is accessed on demand and is made available to users over a network, typically the Internet, instead of as a "boxed" product. The software programs are hosted by a service provider, with benefits that include automatic updates and easier administration, global accessibility, along with compatibility since all users have the same software.
"SWsoft and Sphera are two very important Microsoft industry partners," says John Zanni, managing director of worldwide hosting in the communications sector at Microsoft Corp. "The combined company broadens not only the solution set, but also the customers and markets that Microsoft can reach."
Using Sphera's technology, service providers and their channel partners manage a portfolio of hosted SaaS applications that are bundled and sold to businesses. Sphera also helps ISVs transform traditional software programs to SaaS offerings with no additional application development.
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