Apprenda has announced the availability of the latest release of SaaSGrid, the leading application-server for software-as-a-service (SaaS). SaaSGrid is the modern abstraction layer for cloud applications, automating multi-tenancy and other critical SaaS architecture and business functionality, required for ISVs and enterprises to realize the revenue and efficiency gains made possible by the cloud.

Utilizing SaaSGrid can save companies millions in development costs, simplify enterprise IT management of applications and ensure that development teams can focus exclusively on the business’ core software.

“Whether companies provide software to their customers, offer internal applications to their employees or have a branch-based enterprise structure, SaaSGrid can provide them with a superior foundation for software delivery that is unlike anything else on the market today,” said Sinclair Schuller, CEO of Apprenda. “We’ve added significant enhancements in this new version of SaaSGrid. Some based on the feedback of our ISV customers, and many specifically geared toward enterprise customers using SaaSGrid for private SaaS delivery.”

Drop-in Federated Identity Marks Another Industry First
One such groundbreaking, enterprise-focused feature that comes in this latest release is drop-in identity federation. A common source of frustration for end-users of SaaS applications is the process of entering multiple usernames while navigating through connecting applications. The latest release of SaaSGrid eliminates this problem by offering federated identity as a standard feature. SaaSGrid automatically enables guest applications the ability to authenticate against external identity systems, such as Active Directory or any WS-Federation and SAML based identity providers, and integrate identity capabilities with an existing IT infrastructure. This means that end-users within the enterprise, and even across an ISV’s customer-base, can log-in to their corporate account once and be granted access to all connecting applications.

“Building on top of Windows Identity Foundation, SaaSGrid takes identity management and federation to a whole new level,” said Eugenio Pace, senior program manager – patterns and practices, Microsoft and co-author ofA Guide to Claims Based Identity and Access Control.“By allowing enterprises and ISVs alike to instantly incorporate advanced authentication and identity concepts into their applications through button click deployment, SaaSGrid enables enormous productivity increases for those building SaaS-like architectures.”

This latest release of SaaSGrid also officially supports the development, deployment and runtime of both .NET 4.0 and Silverlight 4.0 applications. In addition, SaaSGrid now includes tighter integration with Visual Studio IDE, allowing developers to more easily package and deploy code to a SaaSGrid environment, directly from their development environment.

A full list of the major enhancements available with this latest release of SaaSGrid can be found in the SaaSGrid developer community.