Birmingham - Old constructs never die; they just get renamed. Before the personal computer era came about in the early 1980's, the age of the mainframe and mini-computer raged. These systems were expensive and required sophisticated facilities and staff to operate. But one thing they did well was multi-task. This feature allowed multiple users to share these expensive beasts - a concept known as "time sharing." Under the time sharing scenario multiple customers rented computer time and used the same computer. Today, "time sharing" refers to a condo at the beach, but the concept is the same - a resource shared by differing parties.

The improvement in telecommunication speeds in conjunction with the development of the web browser have fueled the next cycle in computing - Software as a Service. Software as a Service differs from the old time share concept in one key area. With time sharing all of the applications used by a company resided on one computer. With Software as a Service you pick and choose the software provider you want to use independent of each other. Want a word processor? Use Google docs.  Want a Customer Resource Management package?  Use SalesForce.com. All you pay for is the usage.  The provider takes care of all the required system management and maintenance.

A key benefit to Software as a Service is software updates. Every customer using the software uses the same version.