Software as a service

About: Software as a service is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 8514 publications have been published within this topic receiving 136177 citations. The topic is also known as: Service as a Software Substitute & SaaSS.

An End-to-End Methodology and Toolkit for Fine Granularity SaaS-ization

Abstract: Software as a Service (SaaS) is an important technology innovation as well as a business model innovation to bring new opportunities to Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). There are different SaaS provisioning methods, depending on the customer profile, the cost of the required resources, and the price that customers are willing to pay. The core technology of SaaS-ization focuses on multi-tenancy, which means supporting multiple customers over the SaaS platform at the same time. In this paper, we describe an end-to-end methodology, together with a toolkit that supports the fine granularity multi-tenancy mechanism. This means using one single application instance to support multiple tenants, an approach that could save the Cloud infrastructure resources required to support high volumes of customers. Further, the methodology could lower the entry level of SaaS operators, as well as the user subscription fees.

Towards an improved regulatory framework of free software : protecting user freedoms in a world of software communities and eGoverments

Abstract: The thesis is concerned with the protection of users of Free Software. Free Software is available together with the rights to use, develop, and distribute them. The Free Software Definition specifies the exact scope of these rights (called “user freedoms”). The thesis presents a reconstruction and an analysis of the model of the current framework that regulates the protection of the freedoms.The reconstructed framework consists of rules that enable users to exercise their freedoms, as well as the rules that limit or restrict users in exercising them (so-called “inefficiencies”). The main operational practices are analysed in the world of software communities and in the world of eGovernments.Properly organized communities are able to minimize many inefficiencies materially. eGovernments are able to affect how the inefficiencies of the current framework impact user freedoms. Whether eGovernments improve the protection of user freedoms depends on what type of an eGovernment is introduced (open or closed eGovernements).All in all, it follows from the given analysis that the freedoms are not sufficiently protected under the current framework. Given that finding, the thesis proposes improvements that should be implemented into the current framework so that the freedoms are adequately protected.

Optimal pricing strategies for Internet-based software dissemination

Abstract: In the recent past, there have been several initiatives by major software companies, such as Microsoft, to lead the industry towards electronic software distribution. In this paper, we use a monopoly pricing model to examine the optimal pricing strategies for ‘selling’ and ‘pay-per-use’ licensing of packaged software over the Internet. Traditionally, software distribution included outright sale as well as short/long term renting. With the Internet fast becoming a prevalent mode for disseminating software, a customer can download and use software on a need-by-need basis. For the software vendor, offering the pay-per-use option to the consumer provides for a steady source of revenue and obviates the need for physical distribution, purchasing and inventory management mishaps. We examine the following issues in this paper: (i) what are the extra benefits to the software vendor for providing the pay-per-use option?; and (ii) does the market size change? The contribution of this paper is to show that pay-per-use is a viable alternative for a large number of customers, and that judicious pricing for pay-per-use is profitable for the software vendor.

Service provider competition and cooperation in cloud-based software defined wireless networks

Abstract: Software-defined wireless networking (SDWN) is an emerging paradigm in the era of the Internet of Things. In cloud-based SDWNs, resource management is seperated from the geo-distributed cloud, forming a virtual network topology in the control plane. Thus, a centralized software program is able to control and program the behavior of the entire network. In this article, we focus on resource management in cloud-based SDWNs, and discuss the competition and cooperation between cloud service providers. We present a Nash bargaining game approach to process the resource trading activity among cloud service providers in cloud-based SDWNs. Utility functions have been specifically considered to incorporate operation cost and resource utilization. Illustrative results indicate that cooperation is able to generate more benefits than competition. Moreover, resource sharing among cloud service providers has great significance in efficiently utilizing limited resources and improving quality of service.