NETSUITE UNVEILS SUITECLOUD, ENABLING BUSINESSES TO RUN THEIR CORE BUSINESS OPERATIONS IN THE CLOUD
SuiteCloud Ecosystem Provides Everything ISVs Need to Rapidly Build, Test and Deploy Cloud Applications on the World’s Most Widely Used SaaS ERP Suite SuiteApp.com Provides A Single-Source Marketplace for Finding Cloud Applications that Extend NetSuite to Meet Specific Business Processes or Industr
SAN MATEO, Calif. (March 19, 2009) – NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), a leading vendor of on-demand business management software suites for mid-market enterprises and divisions of large companies, today announced the SuiteCloud Ecosystem, a comprehensive offering of on-demand products, development tools and services designed to help customers and commercial software developers take advantage of the significant economic benefits of Cloud computing. Based on NetSuite, the world’s most widely used Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) ERP Suite, SuiteCloud enables customers to run their core business operations in the Cloud, and software developers to target new markets quickly with newly created mission-critical business applications built on top of mature and proven business processes.
SuiteCloud includes SuiteCloud Developer Network (SDN), a developer program for Independent Software Developers (ISVs), and SuiteApp.com, a single-source online marketplace where ISVs, customers and solution providers can find applications to meet specific business-process or industry-specific needs. For more information on SuiteCloud, please visit www.netsuite.com/developers.
As the on-demand SaaS application model has gained rapid adoption with customers and the industry as a whole, the emergence of Cloud-based development platforms, or Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), have emerged to enable third-party ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) to quickly build and distribute new applications. While most of these so-called platform-as-a-service offerings provide the hardware and software infrastructure to host applications built by third-parties, the Cloud ecosystem embodied in SuiteCloud is unique in that it is built on the core NetSuite ERP / CRM / Ecommerce offering itself. The SuiteCloud environment therefore enables ISVs to effectively embed NetSuite’s core feature set into their applications, to quickly build rich end-to-end business applications, the kind of applications that can run entire businesses.
The SuiteCloud Ecosystem announced today also includes the SuiteCloud Developer Network (SDN), a comprehensive developer program that helps accelerate the development of rich business-oriented applications. In addition, SuiteApp.com, NetSuite’s new online marketplace for ISV-developed applications, or “SuiteApps,” provides a mechanism for developers to distribute — and for customers to find — these valuable third-party applications for their NetSuite deployments.
“Providers like Amazon and Google have generated much of the PaaS buzz to date, but SaaS vendors, like NetSuite, have a unique advantage in the battle for customers and partners — they have an ‘installed’ base,” said Ian Finley, a Senior Analyst for AMR. “A company that already has NetSuite ERP should put SuiteCloud on their short list for PaaS providers. SuiteCloud’s NS-BOS has a built-in integration advantage over competitors. Independent software vendors and systems integrators looking to satisfy a niche market’s ERP needs should consider joining the NetSuite Cloud. NetSuite ERP provides an application foundation that pure platform providers lack; and, most importantly, a pool of thousands of customers already committed to NetSuite.” (Source: AMR Research, “NetSuite Wants You On Their Cloud”)
SuiteCloud is the culmination of NetSuite’s years of leadership in enabling the complex customization of its SaaS-based Suite. In 2000, NetSuite created the world’s first integrated SaaS suite, and in doing so delivered the vital comprehensive ERP, CRM and Ecommerce foundation that underpins its developer platform. With rapid adoption by both customers and the developer community, this groundbreaking innovation spurred a series of firsts in extensibility — including the first SaaS application with custom database objects, the first introduction of a SaaS-platform programming language (SuiteScript), and the first fast track for ISVs to deploy commercially available applications to their customers with SuiteBundler.
“NetSuite is all about helping our customers run their business better, and SuiteCloud is an important step in furthering this vision,” said Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite. “SuiteCloud enables our partners to build incredible business-focused applications quickly and help our customers transition their operations to the future of commerce, Cloud Computing.”
SuiteCloud Developer Network
The SuiteCloud Developer Network (SDN) is a comprehensive developer program that spans all aspects of partnering with NetSuite. SDN enables commercial software developers to quickly go to market with new on-demand business applications that leverage the power of NetSuite’s core business suite via the NetSuite Business Operating System (NS-BOS). NS-BOS enables ISVs to build applications that drive business performance by building on the core of NetSuite’s ERP, CRM and Ecommerce system. NS-BOS enables ISVs to increase their speed-to-market because every vertical application interacts with and requires business functions addressed by the ERP / CRM / Ecommerce functionality of NetSuite, so developers can focus on their vertical differentiation, rather than spending time on “horizontal” functionality such as quote or order management. For details on how to become a member of the SuiteCloud Developer Network, please visit www.netsuite.com/developers.
ISV Partners Offer New SuiteApps
SuiteApps are applications that extend the value of NetSuite for a particular vertical industry or business need. Most SuiteApps run completely inside NetSuite, hosted on the same servers and living in the same database. Some SuiteApps are integrations with other SaaS systems in use by NetSuite customers.
NetSuite today announced a number of ISV partners who have built new SuiteApps on its SuiteCloud development platform, NS-BOS (NetSuite Business Operating System), or who have integrated existing applications with NetSuite to take advantage of its robust ERP functionality, mature business processes and ease of customization. These ISVs include Five9, Celigo, SuccessFactors, AWhere, OnSite, OZ Development, Postcode Anywhere, Nolan Computers Plc, Online One, ePayroll, Adaptive Planning, Rootstock, Daston Corporation, Pervasive, InsideView, Nulogy, Marketo, BlueBridge One and Integrisign. For more information on these ISVs, or to learn more about SuiteApp.com, the new online marketplace for SuiteApps, please visit www.suiteapp.com.
“The SuiteCloud development platform has allowed us to create a tightly integrated solution for any call center handling front-office or back-office functions,” said Jim Dvorkin, CTO at Five9, the leading global provider of on-demand call center software for telemarketing, customer service, and business continuity. “With our leading technology and experience in enabling efficient call center operations, this partnership will provide a powerful on-demand alternative for any company considering premise-based call center and CRM / ERP software.”
“The great thing about an online solution like NetSuite is its ability to grow ever stronger through the addition of extra tools developed by specialists like us,” said Guy Mucklow, CEO at Postcode Anywhere, a UK-based company best known for its market-leading “what’s your postcode” technology, used to quickly complete an address when buying online. “NetSuite has already made it easy for us to develop our integration with them, which includes both international address management and Dun and Bradstreet business information. Ultimately this saves the end user a staggering amount of hours they would have spent in developing a similar program themselves. The SuiteCloud Developer Network is a vibrant developer community and we’re delighted to be joining it.”
NetSuite and Rootstock: Synergy at its Best
One strong example of how the NetSuite development platform helps commercial software developers get to market quickly is SDN partner Rootstock. RootStock was launched in 2008 to develop an application that would enable discrete manufacturers to cut costs, improve processes, and drive revenues. The company’s approach to this problem was to add engineering change control, cost accounting, shop floor control, and manufacturing resource planning (MRP) to an enterprise resources planning (ERP) solution. In so doing, manufacturers could gain centralized, integrated, and cost-effective control over all key processes across the enterprise. The problem Rootstock faced in meeting this goal was the high cost of development and distribution. An on-premise solution would be expensive and time-consuming to code, and even more costly to market and sell. A SaaS solution might require less overhead to develop, but establishing a distribution channel would still be problematic.
Rootstock Software discovered that the key to resolving these challenges was a development partnership with NetSuite. “By partnering with NetSuite, we were able to complete our application and bring it to market twice as fast and at half the cost than would otherwise have been possible,” says Patrick Garrehy, CEO, Rootstock Software.”As the market leader in the SaaS ERP market, NetSuite has a large direct sales force, an established and expanding VAR channel, and an outstanding web site that publishes information about partner solutions. They open these distribution channels to their development partners, so we were able to launch our product with minimal sales or marketing investment.”
Equally important to Rootstock was availability of NS-BOS, NetSuite’s comprehensive application development environment. “NS-BOS,” Garrehy says, “enabled us to leverage the existing NetSuite ERP platform, our domain expertise and the SaaS distribution model to create an application that adds significant value to the NetSuite environment for discrete manufacturers.” With NS-BOS, the enhancements that Rootstock brings are available to end users transparently, through the standard NetSuite user interface, and with the same look and feel as that solution.
Source: NetSuite