Software as a Service

ALSO CALLED: On-demand Applications, On-demand Software, On Demand Software, SaaS, On Demand Applications
DEFINITION: Software as a Service (SaaS) is a software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over a network, typically the Internet. SaaS is becoming an increasingly prevalent delivery model as underlying technologies that support Web services and service-oriented architecture (SOA) mature and new developmental approaches, such as Ajax,  … 
Definition continues below.

SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE DEFINITION (continued): …  become popular. Meanwhile, broadband service has become increasingly available to support user access from more areas around the world. SaaS is closely related to the ASP (application service provider) and on demand computing software delivery models. IDC identifies two slightly different delivery models for SaaS. The hosted application management (hosted AM) model is similar to ASP: a provider hosts commercially available software for customers and delivers it over the Web. In the software on demand model, the provider gives customers network-based access to a single copy of an application created … 
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