Software as a Service (SaaS)
From Wikipedia, the Free
Encyclopedia en.wikipedia .org/wiki/Software_as_a_Service
Software as a Service (SaaS) refers to a model of software
delivery where a company adopts specific activities that
provide customers access to software alleviating that customer
from the maintenance and daily technical operation and support
of business and/or consumer software. SaaS is a model of
software delivery rather than a market segment; software can be
delivered using this method to any market segment including
home consumers, small business, medium and large business.
Software as a service (SaaS) is a software distribution model
in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service
provider and made available to customers over a network,
typically the Internet. SaaS applications are accessible
anywhere, anytime - the only need on the users part is to have
access to the Web. 
Solutions like Unifi's that are
developed from the ground up to take full advantage of the
latest in technologies are drastically different than typical
licensed-based applications and those offered as an Application
Service Provider (ASP) model. An ASP model is simply a
client-server application with front-ends added later that
allow the application to run over the web, or have a web look
and feel. ASP offerings tend to be standardized applications
that have simply moved hardware support and maintenance to a
third-party provider.
To date, few organizations have been willing to make the
resource and financial commitment necessary to develop a new
net-native SaaS solution. Net-native applications utilize the
latest in Web and development technologies to improve
performance, offer greater flexibility for end-users, reduce
the total cost of ownership, and improve the frequency and
delivery of application enhancements.
Unifi users access the application via a Web-browser. The
entire IT infrastructure, including IT staff, application
management and maintenance, disaster recovery, etc., is the
sole responsibility of Unifi Technologies, Inc. The SaaS
application delivery allows multiple organizations to utilize a
single set of software and hardware hosted by Unifi
Technologies, Inc., eliminating back-end hardware costs,
up-front licensing fees, and ongoing application maintenance
fees. SaaS is based on what the customer wants rather than what
the vendor can provide.
