Microsoft SaaS - Software as a Service - Service Providers

Introduction

The combination of ever-more-abundant bandwidth, increasingly powerful processors, and inexpensive storage is broadening the choices for designing, deploying, and using software: in devices, in computers, on servers in corporate data centers, and on the Internet. Business solutions can be delivered and consumed in all of these ways—either singly or in combination—to provide the best user experience and the most business value.

Software as a Service (SaaS)—meaning delivering software over the Internet—is increasingly popular for its ability to simplify deployment and reduce customer acquisition costs; it also allows developers to support many customers with a single version of a product. SaaS is also often associated with a "pay as you go" subscription licensing model.

Microsoft provides the premier platform for those interested in building SaaS applications—all the core platform capabilities, tools, and programs necessary to create rich services based on the SaaS model. This page provides a top-level overview of SaaS on the Microsoft platform, along with information to help differentiate Microsoft offerings and links to more detailed materials.