Independent Cloudware Vendors (ICVs), the new ISV

At DreamFactory we coined the term “Cloudware” to illuminate a new type of web application architecture. This new architecture follows a similar division of labor as the software versus hardware stack in today’s premise based solutions. Put simply, cloudware is to cloud computers as software is to hardware.

Cloud computers are the virtual equivalent of your PC or Server. They offer the processing, storage and other infrastructure required to run your favorite S/W applications. The trailblazers in this new market of cloud platforms are companies like Salesforce.com, Amazon, Intuit, Google, and Cisco.

Much of the focus in the market today is on this half of the equation- the realization of utility based computing. The attention is justified as these virtual computers are game changing. They offer elastic processing, storage, and db capabilities for the next generation of developers. The emerging leaders in this space are companies that have the enormous scale and deep pockets to offer these virtual computers at commoditized prices. Buying cpu cycles, database, and storage is now truly like buying electricity.

This frees developers like us from having to build the infrastructure too. If you think about it, the first generation of Web developers had to have core competence in the whole stack- i.e. required to achieve operational excellence in software and virtual hardware. The next generation of Web developers will likely follow the natural specialization path that software did when it unbundled from the mainframe in the 70 and 80’s- when the term Independent Software Vendor (ISV) first appeared and companies like Microsoft, Symantec, Autodesk, Intuit, etc began to emerge.

This then shines a light on the consumer facing half of utility platforms- the Independent Cloudware Vendors (ICV) built directly on top of these next generation platforms. DreamFactory’s DreamTeam Project Management application is a great example. It is delivered native to the dominant cloud platforms in the market today. This specialization in cloudware offers DreamFactory great economies which we pass through to the customer in the form of really robust products, at a much lower subscription rate.

In short, the relationship between Cloudware and cloud platforms is symbiotic. I have been in software for over 20 years now, and there has always been one constant- Software sells Hardware. There really is no difference in this new world, Cloudware sells Cloud Computers.