The delivery of Software as a Service (SaaS) just got much more efficient, thanks to a new, all-embracing vision by SWsoft.

In March of 2007, SWsoft, a global provider of virtualization and automation software, officially announced their Application Packaging Standard (APS), a universal set of specifications for packaging hosted applications.

Meant to further energize the SaaS market, The APS is aimed at helping independent software vendors (ISVs) to better package their applications for hosting, and will help Web hosts to gain more SaaS products to market and sell. It’s also a major part of SWsoft’s larger OPEN FUSION initiative, which aims to provide a standards-based hosting infrastructure platform to the entire industry.

So far, APS is catching on among ISVs and Web hosts. In late June of this year 1&1 Internet Inc. became the first Web host to implement the Application Packaging Standard for its Click-n-Build Web hosting platform. 1&1 also assisted SWsoft in designing APS requirements for Web hosting providers.

And most recently, several ISVs announced plans to sell hosted SaaS applications based on the new APS – including Roaring Penguin Software Inc., Smart Online, Inc. and ShopSite, Inc.

Doug Johnson, SWsoft’s Director of Marketing for the Hosting industry, spoke to TopHosts and shared his enthusiasm for the new standard. He explained why the APS is needed and how it will reinvigorate the SaaS market.

“The ecosystem consisting of customers, software vendors, and hosting providers was not operating as efficiently as possible…” Johnson said. “Prior to APS, software vendors had to package their application to work with the delivery system of hundreds of hosting providers.”

Johnson explained that without a commonly recognized set of specifications like the APS, ISVs have to continuously prepare XML scripts for provisioning and configuration according to the conditions of many different hosting providers. In many cases, the constant negotiation around implementations can stifle the delivery of a product completely, Johnson said.

Through the APS, ISVs can now package their applications more appropriately, allowing for a more seamless automated installation process for Web hosts. In turn, hosting providers will gain access to more SaaS products and can market these new services without a large amount of additional cost and resources.

All software vendors have to do is download the APS specifications for free from SWsoft’s website, prepare the XML scripts, add necessary data and put it together in a zip file.

On the Web hosting side of things, Johnson said SWsoft looked to 1&1 Internet for their input and perspective on the APS. Andreas Mauer, PR Manager for 1&1, told TopHosts that they were very eager to help out. 1&1’s engineers and developers advised the SWsoft team in late 2006 on issues such as provisioning interfaces, billing systems, databases and many other aspects concerning hosting providers.

Mauer explained that 1&1 sees SaaS as potentially one of the most important developments in the hosting field over the upcoming years. Yet its success depends on how available it can become among hosts, and whether it can take on a wider variety of attractive applications. So it was in 1&1’s best interests to work with SWsoft and make the APS apply to the industry as a whole.

“An industry standard for such applications, that we hope APS to become, will be likely to attract both commercial and open source software developers,” Mauer said. “Thus, APS creates a win-win situation for both ISPs and ISVs. It was particularly important for us to open such a standard to the entire service provider community worldwide, rather than having a closed 1&1 island solution.”