31 October 2007

SaaS in a (Jump)Box

One of the big benefits of Software as a Service (SaaS) is that you don't need to install or configure it. The downside is that it's "only" online. Well, how about this idea for getting the best of both worlds:

A JumpBox is a virtual appliance that bundles an entire server based application into a single pre-configured unit. With a JumpBox, you have quick and simple installation on a variety of virtualization platforms.

It has the virtues of SaaS simplicity, but with the power and control of a local installation. Of course, you can only do this with free software, otherwise those closed source types go ballistic over "illegal" downloads. Poor them for missing out on this very clever idea. (Via Read/WriteWeb.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We've had the same thought and have been in fact market testing this concept on Spigit-> http://innovation.spigit.com/Idea/View?ideaid=2997

We believe the idea of on-site SaaS has incredible promise and judging from the feedback on spigit, others do too. Thanks for the suggestion though - great minds think alike!

sean

Glyn Moody said...

Interesting - thanks for the link.