
Amazon Supply Launches — New Competition for Industrial Distributors, Ariba, SciQuest and Others
Yesterday, Amazon announced it launched Amazon Supply (or AmazonSupply, depending on which branding is used), a new B2B marketplace clearinghouse for industrial and MRO parts and related SKUs. The announcement describes Amazon Supply a…

Ariba Breaks Up With "The Cloud," Romances "Enterprise Networks"
It seems that for every few “persons of interest” Kim Kardashian is seen with, Ariba comes up with a new corporate umbrella from which to dangle its overall company and product positioning. Fortunately, we all know the results that goo…

How Much Uptime Does Your Application Need?
I was having an interesting discussion with a friend recently about Amazon’s spot instance pricing for EC2 that prompted me to write this post. Let me walk you through how it went, because I think it replays some of the thinking that all startups should go through about their online service. BTW, hat tip to Geva […]

Four pillars of the transition to SaaS
One of the most interesting phenomena to arise when you bring as-a-service providers together is the instant sense of camaraderie and a shared outlook. Barriers come down and people start to discuss their challenges and experiences, relieved to discover that others are encountering similar questions. It’s especially noticeable at gatherings in Europe, where opportunities to […]