By Justin Lee, theWHIR.com
September 25, 2008 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Web hosting provider Macquarie Hosting (macquarietelecom.com/hosting) announced on Thursday it has launched the Software as a Service Incubator Sandpit for SaaS providers, designers, integrators and independent and enterprise developers. The SaaS Incubator Sandpit is an entry level solution that enables SaaS start-ups and developers to determine the commercial viability of their products and deliver proof of concept and inputs without large captial expenditures.
Macquarie Hosting says it has invested more than a million dollars over the past year in virtualization hardware and core Internet and security services to support this initiative.
The company has already begun testing the service with many of its current customers including News Limited, Westpac and Showbiz.com.au. The program will provide start-ups with access to a multi-million dollar infrastructure that is designed to handle the demands of enterprise service level agreements and meet delivery standards for online businesses looking to test critical application deployment. Macquarie Hosting decided to launch the service in response to the many inquiries from innovative Australian start-ups as well as market demand for SaaS solutions. Gartner Research predicts that by 2010, more than 30 percent of all new software purchased in Asia Pacific will be delivered by a SaaS model.
Despite this opportunity for business, Macquarie says it intends to offer the program as a helpful tool for start-ups, rather than just another quick revenue scheme. ”This service is not designed as a profit centre for Macquarie Hosting, rather, it is a launch pad for start-up Australian service providers,” says Aidan Tudehope, managing director of hosting at Macquarie Telecom. “Obviously, if the test case is successful, we hope the customer will choose to stay with Macquarie Hosting as its preferred service provider.” Under the Sandpit program, Macquarie Hosting will provide managed virtual servers for customer proof-of-concept testing, a full range of license rentals including Microsoft service provider licensing agreements, Redhat and VMware , testing on a range of virtual machines, access to Macquarie Telecom?s management tools MacquarieView and InView for real-time visibility into system performance and trending to aid in planning, and supported migration to fully-managed virtualized infrastructure post-pilot. Many other companies have launched their own SaaS incubator programs in the past. Most recently, Parallels announced its SaaS FastTrack Program at this year’s HostingCon 2008, Microsoft launched its SaaS On-Ramp program in 2006, and in 2005, OpSource began offering its aptly titled program, SaaS Incubator.
But unlike the competing software development programs, the Macquarie Hosting Incubator Sandpit is not SaaS platform-specific, enabling customers to choose from multiple platforms including Windows, Redhat Linux and Solaris. Macquarie Hosting is a division of ASX-listed Macquarie Telecom, an Australian and Asia Pacific telecommunications provider that offers voice, data, mobile and hosting services. The web host provides fully managed hosting, SAN/NAS storage management, accredited security and comprehensive monitoring and management for organizations with mission critical website and online transaction requirements.
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