Sun Microsystems announced Solaris On Demand, its software as a service (SaaS) program for the independent software vendor (ISV) community. This program provides ISVs with the technology, hosted infrastructure and services needed to offer their software as a service. It is targeted at ISVs with a traditional, on-premise license model who want to offer their existing application on-demand without having to use a multi-tenancy application architecture. To provide the hosting services, Sun is working with several partners such as NaviSite for U.S.-based and European Union companies, AT&T's USi for U.S.-based companies and NTT Europe Online for European Union companies. With the Solaris On Demand program, ISVs can create offerings that meet the application availability, security, scalability and cost requirements of their own customers.

"Callidus Software manages sales performance for over 1.8 million salespeople, brokers, and channel representatives. Our customers have come to expect a high level of integration, service and security that differentiates us from the competition," said Jeff Saling, senior vice president for Callidus On-Demand at Callidus Software. "To that end, we needed an easy way to implement SaaS with unparalleled scalability and flexibility. We found that in Sun's Solaris On Demand program. Sun's virtualization technology ensured secure management and scalability. It helped us realize explosive growth for our on-demand offering, while achieving 99.97 percent solution availability and 75 percent server utilization."

The Solaris On Demand program caters to every step of the SaaS conversion process. To help ISVs begin the process, Sun and its hosting partners offer a 90-day proof-of-concept environment where ISVs have access to hosting, hardware, managed services and backup, with a 99.5 percent guaranteed uptime service level agreement. ISVs can choose to have Sun or one of Sun's hosting partners manage their applications. To ensure a seamless transition, Sun also provides technical, budgetary and marketing support.

"Working closely with our community of ISVs, we developed a program to meet the new needs of ISVs as they move from on-premise solutions and business practices to an on-demand model," said Juan Carlos Soto, vice president of global market development and engineering, Sun Microsystems. "The Solaris On Demand program combines Sun's expertise and leading network computing technologies such as the open source Solaris OS, xVM virtualization technology, and energy-efficient systems with high availability hosting solutions from Sun partners. In the end, we eliminate the risk for ISVs as they transition to delivering their SaaS applications."