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An introduction to Software as a Service
(SaaS) and SaaS Hotel™
Stephen Bell, Managing Director, 1st Easy Limited
1ST EASY WHITE PAPER | MARCH 2010
What is this document about?
This document introduces company IT Management, Directors and The Board to the
concept of Software as a Service (SaaS), explaining how and why companies are
increasingly adopting it as a business and supply strategy. It also introduces the SaaS
Hotel™ brand from 1st Easy — its architecture and how it can help support and
benefit commercial organisations that have adopted or plan to adopt a SaaS delivery
strategy.
1st Easy Limited – “Your Internet Resource Partner”
www.1stEasy.com | sales@1stEasy.com | 0808 222 2221
SaaS deployment | Dedicated Servers | Colocation | Web hosting | Remote Backups | Email filtering
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
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Contents
The trend towards Software as a Service (SaaS) 3
• Key drivers for adopting a SaaS strategy 3
• Key SaaS success factors 4
SaaS Hotel™ from 1st Easy Limited 6
• The SaaS Hotel architecture 6
• Layer 1 - Enterprise-class datacentres 7
• Layer 2 – Resilient commercial grade IP transit and security 8
• Layer 3 – Network layer, local and global application management and security 10
• Layer 4 – Enterprise SAN and servers 11
• Layer 5 – Virtualisation delivery platform 12
• Layer 6 - Common Solution Service Platform (CSSP) 13
Glossary 14
About the author 16
Contents
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
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The trend towards Software as a Service (SaaS)
Traditionally, software has been rolled out from IT departments by physical
transfer media such as CD-ROM, DVD or direct copy over networks. The
problem arising from this model lies with the time consuming, repetitive and
complex task of version management and the support of client side systems —
an increasingly pertinent issue as software becomes progressively more integral
to the business which it drives. As a result, companies often find difficulties in
overcoming this barrier to application improvement, resulting in creeping costs,
constrained productivity and ultimately, reduced profitability.
Leading businesses are now taking advantage of the “Software as a Service”
(SaaS) deployment model where applications are accessed online via a web
browser, as opposed to distribution via physical formats which are traditionally
installed on end-user desktop computers. Importantly, the SaaS model
introduces the idea of centralised version management where updates, bug fixes
and new features are instantly made available to users at the click of a button,
the benefits of which are immediately apparent:
� Time, costs and process: Busy IT departments benefit from simplified,
more efficient software distribution and updating, cost-effective worldwide
deployment and a reduced dependency on desktop system configurations.
Consider the familiar scenario of managing a typical computer suite: what
once potentially represented months of complex work in installations and
individual workstation reconfigurations can now be achieved in an easily
coordinated, timely manner. This advantage is multiplied with scale (i.e.
multiple office locations, global distribution if international sites are
involved).
� Productivity: End users (staff) within the business benefit from instant
access to the latest software version, resulting in a better experience,
improved security, reliability and anytime-anywhere access — all of which
contribute to improved productivity.
The trend towards SaaS
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
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Key drivers for adopting a SaaS strategy
� The need to reduce the complexities of managing end user software
applications.
� The need for upgrade cost, time and process efficiencies, not available
through the software-in-a-box distribution model, but easily possible
through centralised SaaS delivery.
� More stealth-like support of application security as compliance
requirements grow; SaaS centralises application security and reduces
associated costs to a minimum.
� The need to improve distribution of applications across multi(national)
sites, best done by making applications Internet compatible. The Internet
has become the distribution agent for SaaS.
� Where a software product is delivered as a saleable item (as opposed to
an internal business application), the SaaS model facilitates more
accurate license reporting and ensures that only authorised (via
subscription) end-users have access to the application.
Key SaaS success factors
Whilst the benefits of the SaaS model are clear, its wider success extends
beyond the software application itself (quality, value, functionality, security,
performance etc.) and is equally reliant on the underpinning Internet
infrastructure (datacentres, networking, security, and server platforms).
Such components — termed here as “Layers” — can be graded in terms of
reliability, performance and global reach:
Key SaaS success factors
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
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� Enterprise-class datacentres with 24/7/365 technical support and high
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) on power, networks and cooling.
� Fast and reliable bandwidth (IP transit) in the required volumes.
� High performance servers on which applications are powered.
� Comprehensive physical security measures at the datacentre level and
digital security at the network level, to ensure applications and
business/customer data are protected.
� Tightly coupled remote backup datacentres, with cost effective private
network connections, to allow efficient backup of vast quantities of end
user data in a secure manner.
� Global inter-connected datacentres and relationships, in order to deploy
software applications closest to the end-user and customers alike
(minimised latency), handle currency and customs differences and deliver
the best possible experience to users of the applications themselves.
Key SaaS success factors
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
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SaaS Hotel™ from 1st Easy Limited
“Your Apps. Any Place. Any Time.”
SaaS Hotel is an environment optimised for the deployment of software over the
Internet. Composed of six service layers, the SaaS Hotel infrastructure has been
designed to cover each aspect of successful SaaS delivery — from a reliable
foundation of datacentres and networking, through to a choice of global delivery
points to ensure the most responsive experience for end-users.
Figure 1: SaaS Hotel architecture
SaaS Hotel from 1st Easy
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
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Layer 1 - Enterprise-class datacentres
With its roots in hosting and ecommerce application serving (the earliest
deployments of the SaaS model) and expansion into colocation services, the
success of 1st Easy has been dependent on the selection of datacentres
appropriate to the task of hosting business-critical software. Qualifying criteria
include:
� Physical security: 24/7/365 on-site security, access control systems,
VESDA fire suppression
� Resilient connectivity: multiple connections with major hubs
� Power availability: dual UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) power
feeds and backup generators
� Environmental control: resilient air conditioning
By necessity, resilience is a factor taken very seriously by 1st Easy — a shortfall
in any of these attributes at one of our datacentres would cost our company
dearly for any outage event extending beyond just 30 minutes.
SaaS Hotel architecture
SaaS benefits
End-user application experience is underpinned by datacentre
reliability, whilst scalable off-site backup architectures are available to
protect their data.
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
8
Layer 2 – Resilient commercial grade IP transit and security
Highly specified datacentres, expert technical support and state of the art server
architectures are important; the fact remains however, that the heaviest reliance
in SaaS application delivery is the network driving it all. That's why 1st Easy have
invested heavily in this area, including part-acquisition of a network company.
Like the best, we peer directly with the best — the most important in the UK and
worldwide — in return, they reciprocate. This gets IP network packets from A to B
via the most direct route, enhancing end-user application performance.
SaaS Hotel architecture
Figure 2: Dual UK datacentre inter-connection and network configuration
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
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This strategy has proven most effective at meeting demanding Service Level
Agreements (SLAs) and is capable of coping with the severest of Distributed
Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
Our dual fail-over firewall architecture has rarely lost the ability to deliver data
packets to and from servers and further enhances security, without
compromising the SLA levels.
SaaS benefits
Secure, high performance point-to-point delivery between your SaaS
platform and end-users ensures a smooth, crisp experience, improving
productivity and enhancing your credibility.
SaaS Hotel architecture
Figure 3: Graph showing 100% network availability over a one year period at our Manchester facility.
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
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Layer 3 – Network layer, local and global application
management and security
Using network technologies from trusted suppliers such as Juniper Networks, F5
Networks, HP and Cisco, we provide protected, high availability and load
balanced configurations, on both local and global scales.
We can add layers of additional control and security that perform the following
functions:
� Application Local Traffic Management (LTM), optimisation and load
balancing of your applications.
� Global Traffic Management (GTM) across multiple datacentre points of
presence, ensuring constant application services, global delivery and
automatic failover.
� Application Security Management (ASM) that significantly reduces the risk
of data loss or damage and protects intellectual software property.
� Hardware web application acceleration, capable of improving performance
by between two to ten times - reducing the need for costly hardware
upgrades and improving the end user experience.
SaaS Hotel architecture
SaaS benefits
These advances in network technology make the deployment of SaaS
far more reliable, secure, manageable and scalable on a global basis.
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
11
Layer 4 – Enterprise SAN and servers
As a direct Enterprise level customer and reseller of Dell Corporation, 1st Easy
are able to source and deploy some of the most advanced and reliable server
architectures available in the market today. These servers form the backbone of
deployment of SaaS, delivering scalable performance, dual PSU reliability and
high end configurations to support your applications.
Our adoption of Dell PowerEdge® technology has introduced considerable
improvements in power efficiencies, reducing by a third our server related power
consumption. Quite aside from “riding the green bandwagon”, the benefits of
reduced power consumption are as much about moderating datacentre operating
costs as protecting the environment.
As part of the strategy of virtualisation delivery (see further in this white paper),
we have adopted the industry leading Storage Area Network (SAN) platform,
based on EMC Corporation's CLARiiON® CX4 product range. This SAN platform
delivers “five nines” (99.999%) availability, high throughput SAN storage to your
applications and servers, improving uptime and application database
performance.
Our dual datacentre architecture allows full disaster recover procedures to be
deployed, using EMC's MirrorView constant backup imaging at all data layers,
without impacting on server (and hence application) performance.
SaaS benefits
Using the latest Enterprise server and SAN storage technologies, we
can ensure SaaS operations run smoothly, cost effectively, and with
the minimum of impact on the environment.
SaaS Hotel architecture
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
12
Layer 5 – Virtualisation delivery platform
The deployment of SaaS is delivered via Virtual Private Servers (VPS). The
reasons for deployment on this platform layer can be summarised as follows:
� VPS can be considered flexible physical hardware servers, which can be
instantly deployed, moved and resized - providing the flexibility to respond
to the fluid and ever changing characteristics of a SaaS environment.
� VPS are power efficient, utilising spare capacities of the hardware server
platform layer, hence reducing the cost of SaaS deployment and providing
a greener solution for the environment.
� Management of VPS is easier at large scales, allowing support services to
easily identify servers requiring extra resources.
We offer two tiers of virtualisation that are suited to different requirements and
budgets: VMware at enterprise-level (comprehensive functionality) and Open
Source Citrix Xen technologies at entry-level (reduced, core functionality).
SaaS benefits
Virtualisation improves application uptime, as resources are easily
redeployed at the press of a button. It introduces greater flexibility by
allowing VPS resizing on demand and helping you to grow without
expensive upgrades or downtime. The result is better application
platform deployment: cheaper, more reliable, and more scalable.
SaaS Hotel architecture
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
13
Layer 6 – Common Solution Service Platform (CSSP)
Working closely with large USA-based datacentre provider CoSentry, we have
extended our SaaS Hotel platform to encompass deployment in the North
America. This reciprocal arrangement allows UK and European software vendors
to more effectively establish North American markets, whilst USA/Canadian
based vendors can expand into Europe. Forthcoming links with datacentres in
Australia and Asia will provide a truly global SaaS deployment platform for the
lowest latencies at end-user level.
A coordinated CSSP standard provides datacentre support teams and software
vendor clients with a unified platform that enables:
� 24/7/365 access and visibility to local support operations for clients and
technicians
� Rapid resolution of issues
� Pooling of technical resources and knowledge
� Deployment of best technical skills to fix complex issues
� A single and consistent support workflow and process of resolution
SaaS Hotel architecture
SaaS benefits
The CSSP provides improved business continuity of applications,
disaster recovery procedures and simplifies support call management on
a global basis. It also provides global visibility to control local disaster
situations, allowing the coordination of end-user application/data
redeployment on a temporary basis, should one locality be affected by a
serious outage or act of God.
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
14
Glossary
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Software deployment model where applications are accessed by users online, as
opposed to locally via a program running on a desktop computer.
Commercial datacentre
Designed to host “mission critical” Internet applications, a purpose built
commercial facility is served by resilient networks, power and environmental
controls, and also offers high levels of physical and digital security.
(Low) latency
In the context of SaaS, latency is the perceived delay (or lag) experienced by
users of online services between issuing a command and seeing a response; low
latency (highly responsive performance) therefore, is desirable when delivering
an application online.
IP transit / bandwidth / traffic
A measure of the speed or volume of traffic that is supplied to a datacentre client.
Often referred to in Mbps (Megabits per second) or Gb (Gigabytes) per month.
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Typically associated with a percentage figure for the guaranteed level of service
over one year (e.g. 100% power SLA indicates power availability without failure
during an annual period). Pre-agreed monetary compensation can often be
claimed if service falls short of the stated SLA.
Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS)
The provision of emergency back-up battery power to ensuring ongoing power
supply to equipment in the event of a mains power failure.
Glossary
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
15
Resilience / redundancy
The provision of fault tolerant services, generally in the area of networks and
power. For example, a resilient network will consist of at least two routes, so that
if one fails, the second (backup) network will continue to service Internet traffic.
Load balancing
Intelligent distribution of traffic amongst a server cluster to optimise application
performance and reliability.
Glossary
The Datacentre Colocation Business Case
Copyright © 1999-2010 1st Easy Ltd
16
About the author
This article was written by Stephen Bell, Managing Director of 1st Easy Limited,
as well as two other internet services companies in the North West of England.
Stephen has 30 years experience in business and IT services delivery and has
worked for leading companies such as Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics,
Sequent and IBM during his career.
As a Director and owner of companies for the last ten years, he has focused on
the delivery of advanced Internet based services to many companies, both large
and small.
Contact details
sbell@1steasy.com
0800 222 2221
About the author
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