“Web 3.0 is broadly defined today as the semantic Web. I think Web 3.0 really could be platform as a service,” - said Marc Benioff, Chairman/CEO of Salesforce.com. What he was talking about, is the Force.com platform provided by Salesforce.com.
Force.com is a cloud computing platform, provided by Salesforce.com, for building and deploying enterprise applications. This platform hosts the complete set of services like User Interface, Logic, Workflow, Database etc., that every Enterprise application needs. Also, this platform makes inter-application communication (a.k.a. Integration), a relatively simple task.
What makes this cloud computing platform stand out – is its Integration capability and Workflow management. Force.com platform claims to integrate with – Major ERP systems like Oracle, SAP etc., Middleware systems like Informatica etc., Native Desktop Applications, Mashups from AppsExchange and Developer Toolkits. Thus any application hosted on this platform, can communicate with other hosted applications with minimal effort. This communication can also be handled using Workflows. For example, an Employee Resignation Request on a Oracle HRMS, can trigger a request to SAP Financials through the workflow. Such is the scope!
Also, the Apex Programming language provided by the platform, enables data and content sharing between Force.com and Google Applications. This can prove handy, once Google expands their footprint in the Enterprise space.
Overall, Force.com brings the power and flexibility of Cloud computing, to the Enterprise Applications. But Enterprise applications are known for heavy transactions and huge volumes of data. How the cloud responds to such loads, is something to be experimented!
- Google Visualization API
- Azure – The Cloud Computing Platform from Microsoft
- Distress on the cloud
- Capgemini and Amazon WS collaborate on the cloud
- IBM Blue Spruce
Article by Ashwin Chandrasekaran
Founder of Thoughts Unlimited. Loves Technology, Mobile Web, Blogging and Internet Marketing. Runs another Blog on Web Business and Internet Marketing at Power Web Business
Ashwin has written 174 awesome articles.
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