SaaS (Software as a Service) single instance, multi-tenancy architecture

The Microsoft MVP Architect’s mailing list today had a pleasant surprise: Fred Chong’s WebBlog : SaaS is a journey, walk with us.

Check out the article if you’re at all involved in SaaS. Here’s how he started:

Looking through the lens of an architect, architecting software as a service is an area sorely in need of better guidance. Of the companies I have spoken to, some have redelivered classic client-server applications using technology similar to terminal server so that they can expedite the time-to-market, only to run into scalability issues when the market demand for their software service takes off; some have chosen to put all their customers data in one database, with no upfront consideration for data performance and regulatory compliance issues; a few have attempted to solve per tenant data model extensions issues with many battle scars to prove apparent intractability of the perfect solution

This is great. The above are all reasons why I have a day job…

I’ve been spending a lot of time looking into how my team can help lower the bar for software vendors to deliver software as a service. I am a fan of SaaS, because I believe this software delivery mechanism changes the economics of the software industry in a way that allows online information and computing to be accessible to many more people in emerging markets such as India and China. This is a topic that warrants a separate posting a different time. For now, I want to highlight what Microsoft is bringing to the table in terms of SaaS architecture guidance.