Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

1. SaaS Overview
SaaS differs from Infrastructure and Platform as a Service in that it provides a service that is directly consumable by the end-user. The most complete cloud computing service model is one in which the computing hardware and software, as well as the solution itself, are provided by a vendor as a complete service offering. It is referred to as the SaaS model.
Eg: Google Gmail, Salesforce.com is the largest SaaS provider of CRM software

A modern implementation of SaaS using Enterprise Service Bus and architected with SOA components- CC Bible page 73

2. SaaS characteristics
The software is available over the Internet globally through a browser on demand. Usage-based and is billed on a recurring basis The software and the service are monitored and maintained by the vendor, regardless of where all the different software components are running. Reduced distribution and maintenance costs and minimal end-user system costs generally make SaaS applications cheaper to use than their shrink-wrapped versions. Such applications feature automated upgrades, updates, and patch management and much faster rollout of changes.

SaaS characteristics
All users have the same version of the software so each users software is compatible with anothers. SaaS supports multiple users and provides a shared data model through a single-instance, multi-tenancy model. Salesforce.com v/s Force.com: SaaS v/s PaaS Salesforce.com is a web application suite that is SaaS, Force.com is Salesforce.coms PaaS platform for building your own services.

Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP )

Building Blocks A SOAP message is an ordinary XML document containing the following elements:
An Envelope element that identifies the XML document as a SOAP message A Header element that contains header information A Body element that contains call and response information A Fault element containing errors and status information http://www.w3schools.com/soap/soap_syntax.asp

SOAP
<?xml version="1.0"?> < soap: Envelope xmlns: soap="http://www.w3.org/2001/12/soap-envelope" soap: encodingStyle="http://www.w3.org/2001/12/soap-encoding"> < soap: Header> ... < /soap: Header> < soap: Body> ... <soap: Fault> ... </soap: Fault> < /soap: Body> < /soap: Envelope>

Representational State Transfer (REST)

REST has emerged as a predominant Web service design model. REST uses the four HTTP methods GET, POST to execute different operations. REST-style architectures consist of clients and servers. Unlike SOAP, REST does not require XML parsing and does not require a message header to and from a service provider REST is an architectural style for building client-server applications. SOAP is a protocol specification for exchanging data between two endpoints.

Case Study
http://www.onlinetech.com/resources/casestudies/healthmaster http://www.mountainmedia.com/SaaS-CaseStudy-c169.html