Software as a Service for ISVs - Part 2

Distribution and management of a thick client - one application, one user

Thick clients are applications which are installed locally on the users computer and remain on that computer. These thick clients were typically delivered via physical media such as CDs or DVDs. When you think of thick clients, you can think of Symantec Anti-virus, Adobe Photoshop, or Apple iTunes. All of these are thick clients that are installed on the endpoint. In the Software as a Service model, companies are changing their delivery model from physical media to over-the-Internet provisioning and licensing via application downloads.

The back-end systems to deliver and manage the distribution of thick clients are typically custom-built by the ISVs and integrated with their e-Commerce storefronts. Symantec for example allows you to visit their online store, purchase a copy of their software, immediately download it, and obtain your license key -- all through the Internet without the intervention of a human. This is software delivery as a service, which has proven to be quite an efficient delivery model for applications when compared to retails stores or physical media distribution.

Implementation of this type of web-based delivery system is highly dependent upon the business model of the ISV. There are dozens of 3rd party e-commerce solutions in the marketplace today that assist a company in digital downloads and licensing management. Although Morph Labs does not provide an out-of-the-box electronic software delivery system, many of these stand-alone solutions can run within a Morph AppSpace subscription, allowing the ISVs to take advantage of a complete end-to-end infrastructure to run their business.

Application session delivery - one application, many users

One enterprise approach for software as a service is the delivery of a virtual session to an end user. In this model, ISVs or enterprises physically run the software within their own data center. They are then delivering a session to the end user via the Internet. This deployment style of Software as a Service has been popular in some enterprise companies.

It provides the ability to take existing applications and extend their reach securely within or beyond the enterprise. ?It eliminates the need to physically install and manage thick clients across a wide range of computers reducing IT costs.
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As an example, a large financial service organization does not want to expose their internal accounting software to the Internet at large. Therefore, the organization uses a session delivery suite such as one provided by Citrix to securely enable external users to interact with an internal system.

Although effective for many enterprise companies, this option doesn?t seem extensible for the ISV who is looking to build a new market via Software as a Service. There is added cost of the infrastructure to power the applications as well as the proprietary software needed to support this environment. Typically the end user must install a thick client or download a one-time-use client every time they connect to the service. This extra step will prove to be a barrier to adoption for mass market applications.