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Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

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Encyclopedia of Database Systems

Synonyms

Browser-based software; Internet application or service; Web-scale application; World wide web (WWW) application or service

Definition

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) describes Internet-accessible applications that are hosted and managed by an application provider. SaaS applications support multiple isolated, concurrent users, each of whom can customize and use their instance of the application via a web browser. Providers make SaaS applications available for free (with advertisements), via subscription, and on a pay-per-use basis.

Overview

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) represents a transformation in how software is sold, distributed, and used by consumers. Historically, software was licensed and shipped to consumers on physical media (disks, CD-ROMs) for installation on locally maintained hardware. This process was costly, time-consuming, delayed bug fixes and software improvements, and limited technology uptake. In addition, the software and the update process required testing...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Chandra Krintz

Authors
  1. Chandra Krintz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chandra Krintz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Ling Liu

  2. University of Waterloo School of Computer Science, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    M. Tamer Özsu

Section Editor information

  1. Dept. of Computer Science, UC Santa Barbara, 93106--5110, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Amr El Abbadi

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© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media LLC

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Krintz, C. (2017). Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). In: Liu, L., Özsu, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7993-3_80635-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7993-3_80635-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-7993-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-7993-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Computer SciencesReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

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