An Approach for Investigating Perspective of Cloud Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

Abstract

Cloud Computing extend the areas of virtualization, clustering, IT management, Web Architecture, Services-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and brings new dimension in extending utility computing. The primary aim of Cloud Computing is to provide mobility deployment of web-based application by means of easily accessible tools and interfaces for using and manipulating infrastructure. Cloud-based services integrate globally scattered resources, which offer its users seamless services without any glitches. There are three general categories of services offered in cloud computing. They are Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). SaaS is becoming an increasingly ubiquitous software delivery model that support implementation of service-oriented architecture using Web services technologies. With SaaS gaining mainstream popularity, enhanced by the advent of web based computing options and virtualization platforms, the enterprise infrastructure is rapidly expanding into a large computing blurb-a 'computing cloud'. SaaS is the key setting for the rapid development that Cloud Computing is creating. In this paper we investigated SaaS by describing their characteristics, reasons for adoption and applications. SaaS model make possible for every customer to take advantages of provider's latest technological features without the burden of software maintenance, management, updates and upgrades. This paper also identifies the responsibilities of SaaS provider and the benefits to SaaS consumer.