Maybe this is obvious to everyone already, but a recent study of Microsoft channel partners by IDC shows that Software as a Service is seen as a big opportunity by traditional Software ISV channel partners. - 76% view that SaaS will dramatically impact the partner landscape - 70% of solution providers view it as an opportunity IDC expects more companies to promote SaaS next year, including SAP, Microsoft, Cisco Maybe this is obvious to everyone already, but a recent study of Microsoft channel partners by IDC shows that Software as a Service is seen as a big opportunity by traditional Software ISV channel partners. – 76% view that SaaS will dramatically impact the partner landscape – 70% of solution providers view it as an opportunity IDC expects more companies to promote SaaS next year, including SAP, Microsoft, Cisco and IBM. While SaaS is small today (2% of all software) it is expected to grow 25% annually and become a $14.5 billion industry by 2011. Sarah Frier at Goldman Sachs is also bullish on SaaS saying its a $100 billion opportunity that will be a gradual evolution. Ok, I admit that analyst math doesn’t always come true. After all, every market they study is a billion dollar market, but some end up being zero billion. But at least for the next few years, I think there’s great opportunity for IT organizations to leverage software as a service in order to introduce applications more quickly and at a lower cost. And what’s powering SaaS? You guessed it: open source. While the IDC study doesn’t specifically comment on that, we see more and more of our ISV customers evolving their business towards a model that includes traditional on-premise software as well as on-demand options. Open Source