SaaS, or Software as a Service, is software that is deployed over the Internet. It is sometimes called Software on Demand, and it is the application layer of cloud computing. Traditional software required that the user purchase a software from a store, install it locally on his/her computer, continually manage it (patches, updates, new versions), and the software is accessible only on the user's computer. With SaaS, the software is hosted on a vendor's servers, and the user accesses it from any computer that has an Internet connection. There is usually nothing to install or maintain as the vendor manages the software automatically. At the end of the day, the net service provided to the user is the same, but SaaS is a more intuitive and efficient method of delivering the software.

By leveraging SaaS hosting, the time to deploy a software is cut dramtically for the vendor. Instead of purchasing, configuring, and hosting servers, a vendor simply uploads their software to a SaaS hosting provider who has application servers already deployed and online. This saves upfront cost, accelerates time to market, and cuts out IT management from the list of tasks that a vendor would normally face. As the software becomes increasingly popular, the compute capacity is scaled up to accomodate the additional user load.

Winky offers SaaS hosting for software vendors. You can start out small to test the market. As you see your product grow, simply add more capacity accordingly. This pay as you go structure not only saves you capital expenses, it greatly reduces risk. A large percentage of Winky's business comes from SaaS clients. We are currently hosting iPhone, iPad, Android, Java, and Windows apps. Our customers have saved a lot of time and headache using this approach. If you are interested in hosting an application on our enterprise-class servers, please contact a Winky representative today.