There’s More to SaaS Than Meets the Eye
SaaS companies are really hot. Everyone is offering everything as a service – from applications to IT management itself, and everything in between. While we love to talk about the model in terms of Salesforce.com�s success, the growth of ServiceNow, or the triumph of AthenaHealth, there are hundreds and thousands of other, less �buzzy� SaaS businesses where you least expect it.
Why? Because software can be hidden. Just because the average football fan doesn�t have a login to the platform doesn�t mean it isn�t SaaS. Not all SaaS applications are customer facing, B2C, broad-based user-driven applications. And in fact, some of the most captivating ones are not. The magic behind the magic can be.. Well.. Magical.
One of our customers, Leica Geosystems, is just such a company. By correlating GPS data from satellites with other terrestrial and astronomical data points, they can actually provide pinpoint locations for hundreds of applications around the world. Whether they support engineering or surveying companies, or agriculture and construction, Leica�s data from this SmartNet application is mission critical and real time – and all behind the scenes.
But, running the magic isn�t just a flick of the wrist – the team that led the project, Wendy Watson and Tyler Collier, had to find a platform upon which to run this application. In doing so, they turned to iland – in part due to our longstanding, highly skilled use of VMware in our cloud environment.
�iland�s knowledge, service culture, expertise, partnership, and relationship with VMware weremajor selling points for us. We could lean on the experience of iland as opposed to us bringing all the expertise.� — Wendy Watson, Director of Reference Station Operations.
Other critical factors were the collaborative nature of the relationship with iland, our commitment to 24×7 support, and our ability to scale to meet their needs. The support team, in particular, left quite an impression on the team: Wendy noted, �The support staff at iland has always been there to analyze and endeavor to understand what we�retrying to do, and then they recommend or work with us to come up with a solution that helps optimize our environment.�
I am often saddened, in a way, that the biggest stories make the most splash in the market. In a way, I think it prevents less showy companies from taking on the new business model – because it feels so forbidding. But, the truth is that iland hosts many software companies – and information companies like Leica – as they move to a more flexible, global delivery model.
Whether you�re the magician on stage, or the magic behind the magic (behind the magic), there�s a place for you in the cloud, where your talents can be showcased without the burden of managing the infrastructure.
from VMware Blogs http://bit.ly/1xbKhkt