G.B. Pant University of Agriculture &Technology

College of Technology

A PRESENTATION ON

Software as a Service (SaaS)

BY

MAYANK CHAUDHARI

B. TECH (FINAL YEAR)

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGINEERING

ID: 42026

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Contents

Computing today

Introduction to SaaS

Brief History

SaaS Architecture

Financial Consideration

Pros and cons

Conclusion

Q & A

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Computing Today

• We are in the era of Cloud Computing!

• Cloud computing stack [1]

➢ Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

➢ Platform as a Service (PaaS)

➢ Software as a Service (SaaS)

➢ Monitoring as a Service (MaaS) - emerging

➢ Communication as a Service (CaaS)

➢ Anything as a Service – emerging

• So many buzz terms...but SaaS is one of the most widely used service model

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Fig 1. Basic Cloud Computing Models [2]

Introduction to SaaS

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a software distribution model in

which is the service is available to customers over the Internet

and hosted by a service provider or vendors who manage the

infrastructure and platform on which the applications run.

SaaS is sometimes referred to as “on-demand software” and is

usually priced on a pay-per-use basis. [3]

The web as a platform is the center point.

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Introduction to SaaS (con’t)

Network-based access to, and management of,

commercially available (i.e., not custom) software .

application delivery that typically is closer to a one-

to-many model than to a one-to-one model,

including architecture, pricing, partnering, and

management characteristics .

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History

• In 1960s, IBM and other mainframe providers conducted time-sharing

or utility computing services, offering computer power and database to

banks and large organization.

• In 1990s with the expansion of Internet, Application Service Providers

(ASP) appeared. They provided small businesses with the service of

hosting and managing specialized business application.

• Starting from 2003, the true SaaS became popular due to the

increased speed of internet connections.

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Fig.2 SaaS Evolution [4]

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Fig.3 SaaS [5]

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SaaS Architecture

• Fueled by

➢ Bandwidth technologies

➢ The cost of a PC has been reduced significantly with more powerful

computing but the cost of application software has not followed

➢ Timely and expensive setup and maintenance costs

➢ Licensing issues for business are contributing significantly to the use of

illegal software and piracy.

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Fig. 4 SaaS Architecture [6]

High-Level Architecture

• There are three key differentiators that separate a well-designed SaaS

application from a poorly designed one

➢ scalable

➢ multi-tenant-efficient

➢ configurable

• Scaling the application - maximizing concurrency, and using application

resources more efficiently

➢ i.e. optimizing locking duration, statelessness, sharing pooled resources such

as threads and network connections, caching reference data, and partitioning

large databases.

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Fig. 5 SaaS Architecture [7]

High-Level Architecture (con’t)

• Multi-tenancy – important architectural shift from designing isolated,

single-tenant applications

➢ One application instance must be able to accommodate users from multiple

other companies at the same time

➢ All transparent to any of the users.

➢ This requires an architecture that maximizes the sharing of resources across

tenants

➢ is still able to differentiate data belonging to different customers.

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High-Level Architecture (con’t)

• Configurable - a single application instance on a single server has to

accommodate users from several different companies at once

➢ To customize the application for one customer will change the application

for other customers as well.

• Traditionally customizing an application would mean code changes

• Each customer uses metadata to configure the way the application

appears and behaves for its users.

• Customers configuring applications must be simple and easy without

incurring extra development or operation costs

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Financial Considerations [8]

• SaaS sales in 2010 reached $10billion

• In 2011, its sales is up 20.7% from 2010

• SaaS revenue will be more than double its 2010 numbers by 2015

and reach a projected $21.3

• Business SaaS is the major market – Customer Relationship

Management (CRM) is the largest market with 18.8% annually growth

worldwide

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Pricing [8]

• The initial setup cost for SaaS is typically lower than the equivalent .

• SaaS vendors typically price their applications based on some usage

parameters, such as the number of users using the application

• The relatively low cost for user provisioning (i.e., setting up a new

customer) in a multi-tenant environment enables some SaaS vendors

to offer applications using the freemium model.

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SaaS - Pros [9][10]

• Easy to use – Most SaaS applications do not require more than a web

browser to run.

• Cheap- The pay as you go pricing model of SaaS makes it affordable

to small businesses and individuals.

• Scalability: SaaS application can be easily scaled up or down to meet

consumer demand. Consumers do not need to worry about

additional computing infrastructure to scale up.

• Applications are less prone to data loss since data is being stored in

the cloud

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SaaS - Pros (con’t)

• Compared to traditional applications, SaaS applications are less

clunky. They do not require users to install/uninstall binary code on

their machines.

• Due to the delivery nature of Sass through the internet, SaaS

applications are able to run on a wide variety of devices.

• Allows for better collaboration between teams since the data is

stored in a central location.

• Velocity of change in SaaS applications is much faster

• SaaS favors a Agile development life cycle.

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SaaS – Cons [10]

• Robustness:

SaaS software may not be as robust (functionality wise) as traditional

software applications due to browser limitations. Consider Google

Doc & Microsoft Office.

• Privacy:

Having all of a user’s data sit in the cloud raises security & privacy

concerns. SaaS providers are usually the target of hack exploits e.g.

Google servers have been the target of exploits purportedly from

China in the last several years

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SaaS – Cons (con’t)

• Security:

Attack detection, malicious code detection

• Reliability:

In the rare event of a SaaS provider going down, a wide range of

dependent clients could be affected. For example, when Amazon

EC2 service went down in April 2011, it took down FourSquare,

Reddit, Quora and other well known applications that run on it.

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Conclusion

• SaaS greatly enhances the ability of developers to scale their

application on demand and better suite customer needs.

• It encourages Agile practices by enabling providers deliver frequent

updates/patches without waiting for major release cycles as in

traditional applications.

• SaaS applications however are susceptible to privacy, security and

reliability concerns.

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Conclusion (con’t)

• Hybrid environments combining both SaaS and traditional application

methodologies may be useful in scenarios of extremely sensitive data

or where constant up-time must be maintained

• Use of SaaS services is pervasive in the development and deployment

of modern applications

• In conclusion, the SaaS methodology is very mature and would play a

central to the future of computing.

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References

[1]http://www.zdnet.com/article/cloudy-concepts-iaas-paas-saas-maas-caas-xaas/

[2] http://www.bsmreview.com/bsm_cloudcomputing.html

[3] Subashis Biswas; Meghdut Roy Chouwdhury , July 2013, Software as a Service:

Cost Effective Strategic Model to Manage Cloud Services , International Journal of

Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering .

[4] http://www.tuicool.com/articles/I7NZZv

[5] http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/software-as-a-service-saas

[6] http://wiki.fi-xifi.eu/Public:D1.1

[7] http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/49662/Cloud-Computing-SaaS

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References (con’t) 25

[8]http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/software-service-saas-insights-and-

issues-investors

[9]http://www.interoute.com/what-saas

[10] http://www.zdnet.com/article/saas-pros-cons-and-leading-vendors/

[11] http://www.interoute.com/what-saas

[12] http://www.tuicool.com/articles/I7NZZv

[13] http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/software-as-a-service-saas

Questions?

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Thank You

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