Recently, however, the demand from local SaaS and Web 2.0 companies for Web application delivery services has risen substantially, marking the European market as a considerable opportunity for companies in the on-demand business.

Recent IDC studies on the ERP and CRM markets in Western Europe project high double-digit growth rates for on-demand applications. According to IDC, on-demand CRM applications will comprise almost half of the net market growth of the entire European CRM market over the next five years.

This, in large part, is why SaaS delivery solutions provider OpSource (opsource.net) decided last month to expand its European presence by opening an office in Maidenhead, Berks, UK.

The Albany House location will act as the company's UK headquarters, from which it will provide European application delivery services for its US-based customers. Richard Dym, VP of sales and marketing for OpSource, says there were several motivating factors behind the launch of the company's UK headquarters.
 
"First, we have a number of customers in the US that are looking for a local delivery facilities. So we wanted to provide that service for our customers," says Dym. "[Secondly], we felt the increase in demand primarily from European companies for the same price of Web applications services. Third, we are hoping to grow the acceptance of Opsource On-Demand in Europe."
 
The company focuses exclusively on delivering Web applications for business-to-business and business-to-consumer companies. Through its Web application delivery platform, OpSource On-Demand, the company enables its customers to offer the application or service through its own brand, while OpSource handles the hosting and delivery.

OpSource provides the Web delivery process so the customer does not need to invest in infrastructure, systems, application management and non-strategic services such as analytics and billing. This, says OpSource saves the customer resources and accelerates the process, further reducing the risk and cost for its customers.

With its expansion into the European market, OpSource hopes to offer European customers the same.

"We want to play an integral role in helping to accelerate the adoption of on-demand," says Dym. "We are looking to make Europe ultimately a large market for the types of service that we provide in the US."
 
The company hopes to provide European software companies with a cheaper, more effective alternative to delivering their SaaS applications than the traditional, round-the-clock Web delivery model. OpSource says this kind of model is not in the genetic makeup of software companies.

Dym feels OpSource's increased emphasis on on-demand Web applications in Europe will benefit customers worldwide.

"It's good for on-demand in US, it's good for on-demand in the Europe," says Dym. "I think it'll be good for all of us."