Jive Software launched on Monday a SaaS version of its enterprise collaboration suite designed to be easier and faster for organizations to set up.
Jive Express, built on Amazon.com's AWS hosted IT infrastructure services, is intended as a starter, lower-cost and lower-risk option for CIOs and IT managers still testing the cloud computing waters.
"Why hasn't the enterprise adopted cloud computing more deeply? Every CIO we talk to says it's on the road map and that it's a priority but that it's still too risky," said Chris Morace, senior vice president of products at Jive.
Until now, Jive has offered its Jive SBS suite as software that can be installed by customers on premise or hosted on SunGard data centers.
Jive Express represents a third option in line with the "multitenant" SaaS model but offering a more secure environment through virtualization that creates a "single-tenant" deployment on the cloud, Morace said.
This means that the customer's software and data are segmented and isolated, which provides more security, more customization flexibility and easier data migration, he said.
Jive Express also offers an upgrade and migration path for customers who later decide to move to the more sophisticated Jive SBS version of the suite, which can be set up on in-house servers or a SunGard data center.
Jive SBS, both hosted and on-premise, can be offered to an unlimited number of users, includes more personalized and advanced support services and technical consulting, and its functionality can be extended with modules for video, analytics and others.
The company views Jive Express as the first step in its SaaS strategy and expects to follow it up with other SaaS features and products, Morace said.
Jive Express costs US$3 per user, per month. It can scale up to a maximum of 500 users.
