REDMOND, Wash., April 26, 2001 — Leading the industry into a new paradigm of software as a service, Microsoft Corp. today announced its Hosted Applications Development Community, a new Web-based resource for independent software vendors and developers. This community will serve as a guide for the steps necessary to deliver next-generation applications designed specifically for the hosted environment and will provide in-depth technical knowledge and interactive support to ISVs that are developing best-of-breed hosted applications on the Microsoft® .NET platform.
“ISVs have told us they recognize that the future is in the software-as-a-service model and that it will take a new generation of hosted applications to get there,”
said Dwight Krossa, director of emerging business at Microsoft.
“This community provides further resources to help ISVs move to a hosted application environment. Our goal is to arm ISVs with time-saving knowledge and guidance on their efforts as they build and rearchitect their applications to maximize the opportunities in the new software-as-a-service paradigm.”
The Microsoft Hosted Applications Development Community, accessible to all ISVs and developers through Microsoft’s ASP Web site ( http://www.microsoft.com/asp/ ) and through Microsoft’s Certified Partners secure site, will include a newsgroup managed by Microsoft’s Product Support Services in addition to bulletins, white papers, case studies and other resources. The community is open to all ISVs and Web developers building hosted applications. Through interaction with peers as well as Microsoft experts, developers will gain the following:
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Information. An understanding of the intricacies of moving toward a software-as-a-service business model and the challenges associated with entering this market
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Guidance. Tips on design and direction to make Microsoft products more helpful in building best-of-breed applications quickly
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Support. Support on design considerations such as provisioning, billing customization
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Learning. An opportunity to learn from and interact with other organizations in Microsoft’s extensive network of industry partners
Through the end of June 2001, ISVs that are Microsoft Certified Partners will have free access to telephone advisory services — special one-on-one access to a hosted application specialist that can provide short-term, remote-based development consulting for architecture, design, development or deployment issues.
“Onyx Software strongly believes that software as a service will be a large part of our business going forward,”
said Brent Frei, CEO of Onyx Software Corp.
“Our customers are asking for hosted solutions, and we continue to innovate our products to leverage the power, flexibility and cost-effectiveness of the Microsoft .NET Enterprise Servers. I have no doubt Microsoft’s new Web community will quickly become a favorite resource at Onyx.”
“Choosing Microsoft’s platform was a key strategic decision for Allegis,”
said David Story, vice president of engineering at Allegis Corp., a leader in developing enterprise-level solutions for partner relationship management (PRM).
“Allegis took advantage of the Microsoft .NET platform to pioneer the delivery of enterprise-level PRM solutions in both installed and hosted service options. Using .NET Enterprise Servers, in 2000 we delivered 99.97 percent software availability for our hosted Global 2,000 customers, which include Hewlett-Packard, BellSouth, British Telecom, Samsung and Logitech. Making the paradigm shift to software as a service won’t be trivial for developers accustomed to delivering packaged, installed software — we think that Microsoft’s community will be an incredibly valuable resource both for Allegis and for developers following in our footsteps.”
“There will be a tremendous opportunity for ISVs around building software as a service over the next three to five years,”
said Rosa Garcia, general manager of partner programs at Microsoft.
“There is a whole new emerging opportunity for building incremental revenues with their existing applications as well as in learning tangible ways to build on the vision for .NET and .NET services. This global community is one of many resources we will be delivering to help ISVs and developers migrate to the software-as-a-service model.”
The Microsoft Hosted Applications Development Community is available to members of MSDN® Business Connection through http://www.microsoft.com/asp/ and to Microsoft Certified Partners through the Hosted Applications Development link at http://mcsp.microsoft.com/ .
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