“We may be competitors, but is there any reason 10 different companies should be writing the same code?” Network Solutions hosting products manager Miguel Ramos said. Ramos was speaking on a panel called “Using the Application Packaging Standard,” which included the likes of ePages’ Wilfried Beeck, 1&1′s Diarmuid Daltun, Open-Xchange’s Rafael Laguna de la Vera, and Persony’s Eric Chen.
Parallels’ Application Packaging Standard, designed to promote compatibility across applications and platforms, makes it easier for hosts to plug in APS-compatible applications, and to offer those applications as a service.
Moderated by Parallels’ Soeren von Varchmin, the industry panel came together Wednesday afternoon at HostingCon 2009 to explain how hosts and ISV’s can use the APS to access a broad range of software applications that can be delivered through SaaS, significantly cutting their development costs.
Ramos said that the APS helps Network Solutions specifically because it makes it easy for non-tech-savvy customers to find and install a wide variety of applications.
Daltun said that another reason the APS is appealing to customers is its opportunities for commercialization, as well as its roll-back functionality if an installation fails. APS also lets developers offer their own modifications and themes to applications.
Given all the reasons to use the APS, there are also a few current weakness. Ramos notes that the updating mechanisms are currently lagging, especially when application upgrades occur so quickly. Chen noted that an Apple App Store-like interface would help attract a lot of people to the APS.
All-in-all, however, the current APS implementations seem very profitable for hosts, and its future directions and implications will likely prove a key enabler of SaaS and cloud computing.
