PaaS (Longjump): The Glory (?) Of Centralized Computing

The mainframe wasn’t that bad … was it? That is the question the CEO of LongJump wants you to ponder.   I was curious on how deeply he would talk about why we moved off centralized computing in the 90’s and why those drivers are solved now (enabling Platform as a Service aka PaaS) so I spun it up. As always … notes and highlights below …

Details Notable Points Title/Link: WorkFastTV Interview Duration: ~30m Interviewee: Pankaj Malviya Started with CRM solution in 2003 (ala SFDC) called “Relationals, Inc”.  Refocused it on PaaS in 2007. Recommend to Watch? Maybe Much marketing buzz in this interview and very little notable facts that could compel you to PaaS.  However could give you a good overview if you haven’t pondered PaaS too much. 1.  PaaS = Portal?   If so … trouble. If you listen to the 1st 15 minutes alot of value propositions made for PaaS are similar to Portal marketing angles.  This makes me uncomfortable because the value proposition of portals are still fuzzy in most organizations outside of the self service equation.  The worker organizing / tailoring their desktop has not arrived as a big driver (in my view). 2.  Longjump = SFDC?   If so, why not SFDC? I question why one would go with a PaaS provider like Longjump over SFDC.  I assume the pricing is lower.   Given SFDC’s R&D is notably more you would think the nuance and power of their feature stack would be better.  I can’t say for sure.  If you are thinking about Longjump seriously however I would consider that heavily.  Force.com is moving far more quickly to meet business needs. 3.  Why not the PaaS from AMZN or IBM?   Big is slow?  Is that bad? When poked about how this sounds like doing “Visual Basic” in the clouds (simple, decentralized) Pankaj pointed out how the larger enterprises are not agile and so someone like Longjump needs to be used for emerging solutions.   Interesting.  I ding the big battleships all the time, however, they are slow because they cannot run their customers out on an unproven solution.  So, I would hesitate to jump on agile upstarts just because they have a handful of features larger players do not.  It would be better to evolve those missing pieces on the backbone of the larger player and evolve with them (versus against). 4.  The elephant in the room — Lock In. The problem with PaaS providers right now is that to move on to their stacks you give up choice (outside of manually rebuilding).  You cannot easily move applications from one vendor to another (hardware or software).  This is no different than a ERP commmitment the difference is the PaaS providers are less mature so its a more notable risk.  If you don’t like how it works … you are up the river.

Given all the above I am still a big PaaS fan.  Many of the clients I server are leveraging it for non-critical applications as Pankaj points out.  However, I am not sold the best path to PaaS is a small upstart.  I would think smaller bets with SFDC, AMZN, IBM, MSFT would be wiser.  Otherwise there are high odds you will be unravelling proprietary applications 3-4 years from now.

Would be curious on your thoughts … as always.

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• http://www.fastcompany.tv/video/paas-provider-longjump
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
• Longjump has built an enterprise applications development platform (among other things, you’ll see it does quite a bit). We’ll meet Longjump’s CEO, Pankaj Malviya, who’ll tell us what he’s learned about how business is changing due to online tools like Longjump and we’ll get a look at why Longjump is attracting attention inside enterprises.
• 9/2/2008, 7:09 AM
• 9/2/2008, 7:10 AM Talked to Scoble a year ago
• 9/2/2008, 7:11 AM Scoble – Trends?
…………….○ Longjump CEO –
…………….○ Return to centralized computing (cloud computing, PaaS)
…………….○ Not about ERP (mission critical items, that is done … about web app dev build. Corp IT focuses on non-web critical apps. Longjump helpse
…………….○ Examples – Localization project.
• 9/2/2008, 7:16 AM Scoble – What is app dev trends
…………….○ Longjump CEO – Applications delivered in personalized way
…………….○ Bauer Comment – sounds like the portal pitch
…………….○ “Interface to see information they want to see, create reports, deploy business processes on it”
• 9/2/2008, 7:18 AM Scoble – What are the choices for a CIO
…………….○ L CEO –
…………….○ Bungee – dev focus; AMZN – plat focus
…………….○ Longjump – does all three aspects
…………….○ Bauer Comment – Differences vs SFDC? Not many and I doubt same level of R&D by SFDC has been done by Longjump
…………….○ “Give us your #4 app and we will deliver in 4 days”
…………….○ (acknowledges and ‘force.com”)
…………….○ Their difference is they are focused in PaaS … 5 years on the job
…………….○ Use this platform for long tail of IT system needs
• 9/2/2008, 7:21 AM Scoble – Why do this (why did you start)
…………….○ The recreation of the wheel on every system
…………….○ 2003 Launched CRM; 2007 pushed out PaaS
…………………………..§ Bauer Comment – again similar to SFDC (same origins)
• 9/2/2008, 7:22 AM Scobe – What has changed
…………….○ Landscape changing … no silos … more integration
…………….○ Workforce is demanding personalization
…………………………..§ Bauer Comment – where is the proof of this … same was said w/ portals
• 9/2/2008, 7:23 AM Scoble why is SFDC doing well
…………….○ Nothing notable (bauer
• 9/2/2008, 7:24 AM Scoble – Fee model?
…………….○ Subscription per user
…………….○ Bauer Comment – Lock in, How do you get app out of PaaS to internally owned?
• 9/2/2008, 7:25 AM Scoble – How long to learn to build in system
…………….○ Click not Code
…………….○ 90%
…………….○ Then you can code in java (adjust the generated programs). VB, Excel, programmers can come here.
…………….○ SOAP/REST based
• 9/2/2008, 7:26 AM Scoble – Integrate apps into Longjump (how port)
…………….○ Manual port
…………….○ Example of port in 3 days (show results in 3 days)
…………………………..§ Bauer – The promise here is generic “I”ll show you results”. The nuance of processes in existing systems is typically the rarely used scenarios (20%).
• 9/2/2008, 7:27 AM Scoble – Mobile?
…………….○ Excited by iphone, working on it
• 9/2/2008, 7:28 AM Scoble – Built on?
…………….○ Java, XML, mysql … server is custom (XML based app server)
…………………………..§ Bauer Comment – there is the proprietary lock in
• 9/2/2008, 7:29 AM Scoble – Can I control the data? Can I source parts to the cloud
…………….○ Companies want private clouds. VLANs by company for company.
• 9/2/2008, 7:30 AM Scoble data center setup
…………….○ Rackspace, out of San Antonio, TX
…………….○ Core compentency … focus … not infrastructure
• 9/2/2008, 7:31 AM Scoble – what else are you hearing around pain points
…………….○ Shift in enterprise IT landscape … SaaS big change
• 9/2/2008, 7:32 AM PaaS vs SaaS
…………….○ SaaS … is about one function or app
…………….○ PaaS — Provides a foundation to build multiple apps
…………………………..§ All apps can talk to one another
…………………………..§ Centralized (customer, etc)
• 9/2/2008, 7:33 AM Scoble – Sounds like VB for the cloud
…………….○ Big corps are not agile in learning new things
…………………………..§ Bauer Comment – in a way here he is dismissing how tactical concerns of users are key to big companies … they don’t jump because its not as easy to hit all scenarios as this CEO is implying
• 9/2/2008, 7:34 AM – Scoble
…………….○ Created – Integrators, Report Engines, Validation Engines
…………………………..§ Bauer Comment – SFDC does this as well probably better
…………….○ Bootstrapped themselves … so no VC $ … not about $ … are you building an app that can make companies have ROI
…………….○ Now 500 customers
…………….○ Customer centric approach
…………………………..§ Bauer Comment – wonder if they have gone to customer centric selling?
• 9/2/2008, 7:37 AM Scoble – Flip?
…………….○ VC pressures … hire sales … too soon … push product out too soon
…………….○ Get > 3 customers (reference) prior to asking for VC funding
…………….○ Have to solve issues no one else is wrestling … a core problem
• 9/2/2008, 7:38 AM Scoble – Team
…………….○ 95% in SV
…………….○ 5 people in India
…………….○ Most are engineers
• 9/2/2008, 7:39 AM – Remote Team Learnings
…………….○ Today 7X24 … big change … can cost on lifestyle
…………….○ Collaborative systems
…………….○ Tools used – WIKI platform (add to email and phone)
…………….○ Collaboration sharing is tuff … figure it out before global teams
• 9/2/2008, 7:40 AM
…………….○ End
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