(Reuters) -With sales of web-based business software soaring, companies that focus on cloud computing are slipping into a sweet spot as technology giants look to bolster their presence in this fast-growing segment.

Cloud computing, or software as a service, allows businesses to cut back on hardware and space by having their software hosted in remote datacenters they access over the Web.

Deep-pocketed technology firms like IBM (IBM.N) or Oracle Corp (ORCL.O) might be looking to snag deals in this area to complement their own traditional, mostly on-premise services.

Human resource management software makers SuccessFactors Inc (SFSF.O) and Taleo Corp (TLEO.O) and retail-focused software firm DemandTec Inc (DMAN.O) could be the early targets, according to analysts.

“The themes of cloud computing and software as service (SaaS) are so real, and it’s still so early, that I think there should be lot of activity,” said Raymond James analyst Terry Tillman.

Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Sasa Zorovic believes companies like NetSuite Inc (N.N), Rightnow Inc (RNOW.O), Kenexa Corp (KNXA.O) and Constant Contact (CTCT.O) could all be attractive takeover targets.

Most big players delayed entering the cloud space and now want the scalable platforms provided by these SaaS companies to build efficient applications.

“With the growth of software as a service, companies have an increasing need to integrate data and business processes across on-premise and cloud systems,” IBM said in a recent statement.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software provider Salesforce.com Inc (CRM.N), which helped pioneer software as a service and is one of the fastest-growing software stocks, might also be considered as a takeout target. However, its size and rich valuation might not make for an easily digestible deal.

Since these companies deliver their software products over the Internet, it saves clients the cost of buying licenses in advance and running programs on their own computers.

The adoption of software as a service is expected to far outpace market growth through 2013, a Gartner report shows.

Currently, Salesforce.com accounts for about half of overall web-based CRM software sales, according to the report.

NICHE SELLS

However, firms with niche products like SuccessFactors and Taleo are also seeing explosive growth, as smaller companies queue up to vie for a share of the pie.

“SuccessFactors is adding a lot of potential total addressable market to the mix with all the stuff they are getting into,” said Tillman.

The company, which makes software that helps firms manage staff performance, posted a 37 percent jump in 2009 revenue. Revenue for 2010 is expected to grow 18 percent to 19 percent.

The company trades at a whopping multiple of 1,138 times forward earnings — 25 times the sector average. Its shares have risen more than two and a half times in the last one year.

In contrast, Oracle trades at 14 times forward earnings and SAP at 17.

DemanTec, another possible target, provides pricing and merchandise optimization for retailers. Its largest customer is Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N).

“For DemandTec, it was initially about fitting large global retailers like Target Corp (TGT.N) or Walmart to buy the best buy, but then they started selling software to their suppliers,” Tillman said.

The company’s products manage the same stores sales environment and help improve gross margins, he said, which could make it a valuable addition to large systems integrators that these retailers rely on, or even large enterprise companies.

Shares of the company have, however, dropped about 40 percent in the last one year.

RECENT CONSOLIDATION

The software sector has recently seen a flurry of activity with SAP AG’s (SAPG.DE) offer to buy Sybase Inc (SY.N) and IBM’s move to acquire AT&T Inc’s (T.N) business-to-business software unit.

Analysts believe these buyouts could accelerate the pace of consolidation in the tech industry in the next 12 months to 18 months.

“Just the fact that a large application vendor like SAP could become more aggressive increases the urgency of what other players like Oracle, IBM, Hewlett Packard Co (HPQ.N) or Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) feel about M&A,” said Tom Roderick, analyst at Thomas Weisel.

Roderick’s pick in the SaaS space is Salesforce.com, but he said the company did not look like an immediate target.

“It is the property that has the most strategic value. It is the market leader in SaaS by a long shot and CRM technology is certainly one, if not the hottest, application sectors in the marketplace right now,” he said.

The company’s revenue grew 21 percent in fiscal 2010, compared with fiscal 2009 and is expected to grow 18 percent to 19 percent in fiscal 2011 to between $1.55 billion and $1.56 billion.

The company trades at 75 times forward earnings and its shares have more than doubled in value in the last 12 months.

Cloud Computing Vendors Shaping the Emerging Cloud

1) Amazon Web Services
Leading cloud pioneer Amazon offers several different in-the-cloud services. The best known is Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, or Amazon EC2, which allows customers to set up and access virtual servers via a simple Web interface. Fees are assessed hourly based on the number and size of virtual machines you have ($.10 -$.80 per hour), with an additional fee for data transfer.
EC2 is designed to work in conjunction with Amazon’s other cloud services, which include Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), Simple DB, Cloudfront, Simple Queue Service (SQS), and Elastic MapReduce.
Notable: The Amazon Web Services list of partners is high profile, including the likes of Citrix, Facebook, IBM, Oracle, Red Hat, and others.

2) Google
Yes, they own search – and are working on owning the cloud. With Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Picasa in its lineup, Google offers some of the best known cloud computing services available. They also offer some lesser known cloud services targeted primarily at enterprises, such as Google Sites, Google Gadgets, Google Video, and most notably, the Google Apps Engine. The Apps Engine allows developers to write applications to run on Google’s servers while accessing data that resides in the Google cloud as well as data that resides behind the corporate firewall. While it has been criticized for limited programming language support, the Apps Engine debuted Java and Ajax support in April, which may make it more appealing to developers.
Notable: Google recently revealed its philosophy of cloud computing in this Enterprise Blog post written by senior project manager Rajen Sheth: “As companies weigh private data centers vs. scalable clouds, they should ask a simple question: can I find the same economics, ease of maintenance, and pace of innovation that is inherent in the cloud?”

3) IBM

Although it was somewhat late to the cloud computing party, IBM launched its “Smart Business” lineup of cloud-based products and services in June. For now, the company is focusing on two key areas: software development and testing, and virtual desktops. But the company makes it clear that the cloud model has much wider-reaching implications, noting that “cloud computing represents a true paradigm shift in the way IT and IT-enabled services are delivered and consumed by businesses.” The company has also made noises about partnering with Google – the two companies would be a potent duo in the cloud sector.
Notable: A big part of IBM’s advantage in the cloud is the remarkable reach of its international presence. Early customers of IBM’s cloud computing offerings include South Africa’s Nedbank and China’s Sinochem.

4.) Microsoft

It’s a critical question facing the tech industry: Can Microsoft, the king of the traditional world of packaged software, leverage its hulking muscle to grab a similar position in the cloud world? The answer is unclear but Microsoft is certainly trying. The software giant’s ambitious Azure initiative has a solution for every Microsoft constituency, from ISVs to Web developers to enterprise clients to consumers. Formally unveiled in 2008, Azure is still very much a work in progress. If it succeeds as Microsoft hopes, in future years we’ll be talking about “Windows Azure,” a cloud-based OS that offers remote computing power, storage and management services. To make the dream come true, Microsoft is investing a king’s fortune in a network of $500 million, 500,000-square-feet datacenters around the country. The facilities will presumably form the physical backbone of the cloud network. If all goes according to plan, Microsoft will not only control the software but also the physical infrastructure that delivers that software. In other words, the company is attempting to be even bigger than it is now. (No one ever accused Redmond of being modest.) Perhaps the company’s ace in the hole: it understands enterprise management – a critical building block – more than its top competitors.
Notable: In a March 2009 interview with the New York Times, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer jumped up and drew a diagram on a white board of the company’s cloud computing plans. It’s a squiggly, complicated drawing, leading the reporter to ask if the plan wasn’t overly complex. Not at all, Ballmer explained, detailing how current flagship Windows Server will be replaced by Windows Azure. In a quote that suggests that Microsoft is very attuned to the cloud trend, he told the Times: ““Anything that has been a server needs to be a service.”

5) Salesforce.com

More than 59,000 companies use Salesforce.com’s Sales Cloud and Service Cloud solutions for customer relationship management, which has helped make it one of the most well-known and most successful cloud computing companies. In addition, through Force.com, it allows developers to use the Salesforce.com platform to develop their own applications. Users can also purchase access to the Force.com cloud infrastructure to deploy their applications.
Notable: In its 10-year history, Salesforce.com has amassed an amazing lineup of awards. Its impressive client roster includes Dell, Dow Jones Newswires, Kaiser Permanente, and SunTrust Banks. Perhaps more impressive: even in the recession the company reported stellar financial results.

SEATTLE — Most small-business owners don’t realize this yet, but a mother lode of technology that can free precious cash and manpower is available to them as in no other time in history.

Small firms typically buy basic clerical and accounting software in shrink-wrap boxes and run them on a company computer. The owner, or a harried employee, invariably gets pressed into service as resident tech expert.

But today, they can tap into a swelling portfolio of business applications residing in far-off computer servers. These programs come down from the Internet cloud, sent by a growing army of software companies eager to deliver powerful tools to Web browsers in laptops, netbooks and smartphones. Users pay as they use.

So-called software-as-a-service, or SaaS, has long been available to big companies. Now that computing power has become dirt cheap and Internet usage ubiquitous, software developers are racing to put cutting-edge business apps into the hands of small firms in ways that could give a lift to the economic recovery.

“We’re entering an entirely new paradigm,” says Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, a San Francisco-based supplier of programs that manage customer relations. “It’s fantastic for small business, because software-as-a-service gives them a whole new level of capabilities.”

TECHNOLOGY LIVE: Q&A with Salesforce.com’s Marc Benioff

Services such as Speakeasy, Concur Breeze and Avalara have cropped up to manage Internet phone systems, do expense and travel accounting, and handle complex sales-tax payments for small firms. For modest fees, these suppliers assume the burden of keeping programs updated, secure and readily accessible. “This technology allows you to do more with less,” says Bruce Chatterley, CEO of Speakeasy, a Seattle-based supplier of Internet phone systems. “Small business can now go toe-to-toe with big business.”

The trend has grabbed the attention of the tech giants. Microsoft and IBM have begun hustling to prepare a new generation of hosted services, tuned for small businesses and neatly tying into their legacy products. “Big Blue is definitely going small!” declares Sean Poulley, IBM’s vice president of cloud collaboration.

And Google recently has become hyper-focused on this emerging market. The search giant is stepping up efforts to position its Web-delivered e-mail and clerical applications as the hub of some of the hottest new tools crafted specifically to help small firms.

“There is big money in this,” says Christopher Vander Mey, senior product manager for Google’s business line of products. “We want to give business a choice, and we strongly believe many will choose us.”

Growth in spending on cloud services by U.S. companies with 100 or fewer employees is projected to grow from $2.4 billion this year to $4.1 billion in 2013, according to research firm IDC. But that could turn out to be conservative if awareness spreads. “We’re at an acceleration point,” says Benioff. “We’re seeing real innovation and real growth, and it’s all coming from cloud computing.”

Sleeping better

Testimonials from early adopters bear out the benefit claims made by SaaS proponents. Take Glen Smith, CEO of Commercial Retrofitters & Recyclers, an energy auditing and recycling company in Upper Marlboro, Md. Smith knows firsthand how hosted services can minimize disruptions, should a company computer get lost or stolen.

In early 2009, Smith moved all his customer and banking records into online systems supplied by Salesforce.com, FinancialForce.com and Intuit’s QuickBooks Online. That allowed him to shed the Windows PC server he kept on the premises to store this invaluable data.

One weekend last month, thieves broke in and stole eight desktop PCs used by his office staff, along with a truckload of recycled tech equipment. Smith was unruffled. “On Monday, we went out and bought new computers, plugged them in, and we were back up and running by noon,” he says. “We didn’t have to re-create anything.”

At Executive Envelope, a Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-based manufacturer of brochures and placards, office manager Claudia Brake was in dire need of a more efficient, accurate way to keep track of continually morphing sales-tax rates and rules imposed by the half-dozen states where Executive Envelope sells its products. The company accountant simply could not keep up. Errors — and audits — resulted.

By turning that tedious, detailed task over to Avalara’s specialized systems, the company saves eight to 10 employee hours a week, or $36,000 annually. More important, its exposure to audits has been reduced, allowing Brake to sleep better. “It not only makes my life easier, it allows me to focus on more valuable areas of our business,” she says.

Similarly, New Age Industrial, a Norton, Kan., aluminum equipment maker, recently turned to Concur Breeze to handle its business expense reports. Employees attending a recent tradeshow used their laptops to access the Concur Breeze website and make entries to expense reports while on the road. Back in Norton, accounting controller Missy Amlong could instantly review those entries.

“We went from seeing expense detail once a month to seeing detail in nearly real time,” Amlong says. She now spends 30% to 40% less time processing expenses.

Blended services

At Google, the proliferation of such services played into the hands of the team behind Google Apps Premier Edition, the suite of Web-based e-mail, calendar and clerical programs the company sells to businesses for $50 a year per employee.

On March 9, the search giant rolled out Google Apps Marketplace. Businesses can choose from more than 90 hosted services that tie into Google Apps. To appear in the marketplace, software companies pay a $100 registration fee and agree to route access to their service through Google Apps. They also pay Google a 20% cut of any revenue generated through the marketplace. More than 1 million Google Apps users are now using services supplied by Google’s marketplace partners.

“The idea was simple,” says Matt Glotzbach, product management director for Google business software. “Every day, there was a new vendor offering unique services in the cloud. We wanted to give small business a centralized point where they could see offerings, read reviews and install the offerings.”

Tom Hippensteel, vice president of LiquidConcrete, a Seattle-based maker of coatings for concrete and steel structures, has come to rely on Google Apps and its marketplace partner, SmartSheet, a supplier of project management software. Hippensteel often collaborates on new coating formulas and customer contracts with multiple employees in the field. Members of a work group might be simultaneously working in one or both of the cloud programs using Apple Macs, Windows PCs or Apple iPhones.

“When we’re done, we can hit save, and everybody has the current version,” says Hippensteel. “That solves the problem of multiple versions of a file flying around in e-mail attachments.”

IBM is making a similar bet that small firms will gravitate to a mix of basic and specialized hosted services seamlessly blended by a tech giant doing the behind-the-scenes heavy lifting. This spring, it announced partnerships with UPS, Skype, Salesforce.com and Silanis, an e-signature authentication maker. Subscribers to LotusLive, IBM’s hosted e-mail and document-sharing service, can now ship packages, make phone calls, manage customer records and authenticate documents directly from LotusLive. IBM intends to add more partners.

“This cloud-delivery model allows IBM to serve a whole new class of customers that we’ve not been able to reach easily before,” says IBM’s Poulley. “Now more than ever, you’re going to see us adapting to the needs of small business.”

‘Save to Web’

Microsoft, meanwhile, is attempting to ease its small-business patrons into the Internet cloud. It plans to roll out Office 2010, the latest iteration of the world’s most widely used suite of clerical programs, sometime in June.

A small-business owner will be able to buy Office 2010 for $199 embedded in a new Windows PC, or $279 in a shrink-wrapped box. A key new function: When closing a Word document, Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint slide presentation, the user will be able to navigate to “Save & Send,” then “Save to Web.”

The file will then sail off to SkyDrive, a free file-storage service residing on Microsoft’s cloud servers. SkyDrive is available to anyone who signs up for a free Windows Live or Hotmail account. Later, the user can access the SkyDrive file and work on it from any Web browser on any computing device.

To do this, you must log onto Windows Live and use Office Web Apps, a lightweight, browser-enabled version of Office that Microsoft is preparing to make free to everyone; it plans to roll out Office Web Apps at the same time as, or slightly before, Office 2010.

“They want to sell Office 2010, but they also want to respond to the fact that people want to do stuff online,” says Matt Rosoff, senior analyst at research firm Directions on Microsoft.

Unlike Google and IBM, Microsoft is not letting any partners tie their apps directly into its breadwinner product. But, in the brave new world of cloud computing, that hasn’t stopped Central Desktop, a Pasadena, Calif.-based start-up, from hosting a service that enables users of Office 2003 and Office 2007 to collaborate in the Internet cloud.

For $25 per month, per user, Central Desktop lets you save older Office files on its servers, where multiple users can simultaneously access the same file. There’s no need to pay for Office 2010, or make the switch to Google Apps, says Central’s co-founder and CEO Isaac Garcia.

“We know small business wants to consume product via software-as-a-service,” he says. “It’s affordable, flexible and you pay as you go, instead of paying a large up-front licensing fee.”

www.usatoday.com

Google has its head in a federal government cloud.

The search engine giant wants to shift federal agencies from traditional desktop and server-based computing to so-called cloud computing, which relies on the web and outsourced remote file servers to deliver email, send instant messages and share files. That ranges from software as a service and suites of applications — like Google Apps — to remote data storage.

Google hopes to win certification within weeks for its suite of products, a General Services Administration blessing of Google’s cloud computing security. That has huge implications: With its $75 billion IT budget — roughly 10 percent to 20 percent of all IT spending nationally — the federal government is the cumulonimbus of the cloud computing world.

The GSA’s stamp of approval could put Google ahead of competitors like Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and IBM, all of which want to capture portions of the federal government cloud.

“The government is very, very attracted to this technology,” said David Mihalchik, business development manager on Google’s federal team. “It is a new, cheaper platform with new capabilities.”

What Google is selling is cost savings of up to 75 percent from agencies’ current IT outlay, Mihalchik said. Much of those savings comes from eliminating hardware upgrades and software relicensing.

Google’s price: $50 per user per year.

“Agencies now have an option available to them with much lower costs upfront,” Mihalchik said. “They’re not paying up front to run their own infrastructure.”

Winning that business isn’t easy, however, especially when facing heavy hitters like Microsoft, Amazon and Terremark, which hosts the Data.gov and USA.gov sites.

But Google may have an important advocate: federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, who was Washington, D.C.’s chief technology officer when the district opted to buy a Google Apps license.

Kundra’s push to move much of the federal information technology infrastructure from 1,100 data centers to cloud computing is part of a perfect storm that Google and other potential vendors look to ride.

“This is about good government. This is about cutting waste. This is about delivering better service,” Kundra said.

Yet, questions remain about the safety of cloud-covered data, especially as more sensitive information moves to the cloud.

Unidentified hackers tapped Google’s source code last year and reportedly came away with software that supports its system that allows a single sign-on password.

Greater security, however, translates into higher costs — and fewer savings.

Source: www.bizjournals.com

Showcasing its integrated cloud-based enterprise information archiving solution for e-mail, file systems and SharePoint, MessageSolution has announced the start of the MessageSolution SaaS (News – Alert) Tour 2010 at the SaaSCon 2010 Expo.

MessageSolution SaaS Hosted Multi-Tenancy Archiving Solution is ideal forhosting in data centers, managed by the partners such as hosting firms, online backup solution providers, Cloud and managed service providers, IT consultants, ISP providers and system integrators, states the company.

The SaaS and on-premise archiving solution from MessageSolution (News – Alert) archives and stubs for all top-ranked email server platforms, including Exchange, Domino, GroupWise, file systems and SharePoint. This offers compliance archiving for all Unix/Linux-based email servers, and file servers for NTFS/NFS/NSS/Netware. Also, companies can migrate between email servers, such as GroupWise or Domino to Exchange bi-directional, and SharePoint or BPOS migration from multiple source systems, with the help of this system.

“MessageSolution SaaS tour is to showcase our unified SaaS archiving solution for email, file systems, and SharePoint. Partners, SME and enterprise customers choose MessageSolution SaaS archiving services and solutions because of the additional functions we have integrated that were only being offered in on-premise solutions, function such as stub attachments or email contents to reduce up to 90% of email server storage requirement” said Jeff Liang, CTO at MessageSolution.

MessageSolution SaaS multi-tenancy archiving solution is ideal for OEM SaaS Partners as it makes use of low-cost storage grids to maintain the lowest-cost growth possible to operate, states the company. According to the company, MessageSolution holds the industry scalability record of archiving data from tens of thousands of users on one single archive server, 5-8 times over competitors.

In November last year, the company released the new MessageSolution Enterprise Archive 6.0. Loaded with new features and functionalities the new solution will be available in multiple editions, including an on-site software edition, a Software-as-a-Service edition for direct customers and an OEM SaaS edition for Exchange and all e-mail server hosting, backup solution hosting providers, IT consultants, system integrators, Cloud providers, and data centers.

Source

Software-as-a-service has been recommended to companies seeking to improve the productivity of their workers.

According to an article on IT Business Edge, software-as-a-service is helping small businesses to realise the full potential of their organisation.

“Software-as-a-service delivers software in a web-based form available anywhere there is an internet connection and often on any device – increasing employee productivity with its anytime-anywhere access,” it explained.

The article added that software-as-a-service is paid for on a monthly basis – meaning that fees can easily be adapted to reflect the number of workers using the technology at a company.

Another benefit of the service is that no maintenance is required on the part of the business using it, while automatic updates also help businesses get the most out of software-as-a-service.

Last week, Adineke Babatola, an analyst at research company Canalys, told the Computing website that more companies are turning to software-as-a-service as they realise how easy it is to manage.

Source: qas.co.nz

The chart provides the 3-month moving total beginning in 2004 of permanent IT jobs citing Cloud Computing within the UK as a proportion of the total demand within the Miscellaneous category.

Worldwide chart from Indeed.

Here are 5 websites which may help you find that Cloud Computing Job.

Cloudcomputingjobs.org

Cloudjobs.net

Indeed.com

Simply Hired

ITjobswatch.co.uk

A magical and…well…not so revolutionary device is perfect companion to Clio!

Vancouver-based Themis Solutions Inc., provider of web-based legal practice management offering Clio, today announced the introduction of its newest product, the ClioPad.

ClioPad’s high-quality paper stock, made from 100% recycled and biodegradable paper, is college ruled and spiral bound. At a mere 3 ounces and a sleek 0.25 inches thin, the ClioPad is easy to carry and use anywhere.

Featuring an infinite battery life, you won’t be hunting around for an outlet to plug into anytime soon.  ClioPad gives you the ability to jot down ideas whenever and wherever they occur, whether there’s an internet connection or not!  It is the perfect offline companion to Clio, the best way to manage your law practice online.

Legal technology and eDiscovery expert Brett Burney of Burney Consultants was amazed at the innovativeness of the ClioPad.  He reveled, “The ClioPad helped me re-discover the pencil. Who knew you could create text without typing?  The ClioPad is so intuitive and user-friendly that even my 3-year old picked it right up … although she preferred to use a crayon.  Surfing the Internet is still a little primitive – I tried visiting www.cliopad.com but I had to draw my own 404 error. Also, the ClioPad is so versatile when compared to other products – just try making a paper airplane out of your laptop!”

Clio President and Co-Founder Jack Newton said, “We think the ClioPad is the ultimate offline companion to Clio. It will work anywhere, with or without internet, with or without power. With its built-in handwriting compatibility, we think we’re really on to something.”

Source

Google launched an application marketplace today comprised of services from third-party providers that integrate with the Google Apps ecosystem.

The news has been anticipated for some time. In particular, it shows how much Google is embracing open-standards and leveraging its search and Google Apps platform to attract third-party developers.

Korea Leaps on Cloud Computing Bandwagon

The government will spend around 200 billion won (about $172 million) next year for a number of ambitious Web-based computing projects to help the technology industry create more demand for their nascent cloud services, officials said Tuesday.

Cloud computing, the latest buzzwords in the technology sector, describes a new era of Internet usage when information and software are delivered over the Web, rather than a desktop computer.

Most activities and data will be stored online and accessed from a wider range of devices, including computers and mobile Internet gadgets, and the changes will allow companies to deliver information technology (IT) power in more efficient and cost-effective ways, Seoul policymakers say.

The world’s major Internet and technology companies, including Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon, are aggressive in pushing their own version of cloud computing services.

The Korean technology community seems to have the fever too with companies like Samsung SDS and LG CNS eager to get out of the gate early.

Cloud computing solutions are also a critical part of the Korean government’s green tech initiatives that focus on low-power devices for personal computers, televisions, displays and servers. Getting particular attention are low-power mobile Internet devices, light-emitting diode (LED) backlighting technology, solid-state drives (SSDs), and electric and hybrid vehicles.

Source