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In addition, Mailtrust has invested in troubleshooting and diagnostic tools so that it can help customers identify problems, even if they aren't on Mailtrust's end, something that Matthews says customers appreciate. "We embrace that [troubleshooting] part of our business, and we work really hard to make sure we don't get in the habit of blaming customers or third parties," he says. Mailtrust's uptime stands at 99.997 percent, according to RealMetrics.com.
Meanwhile, OpSource, which provides services to software makers of all sizes that want to deliver their applications over the Internet as SAAS, also offers 100 percent uptime for its servers and for the availability and performance of its customers' applications in its OpSource OnDemand service, says Chief Marketing Officer Richard Dym. "We made the decision that it made sense not to fool around," says Dym, whose company's clients include BMC and Business Objects.
Dym also sees a broader shift in the SAAS market toward stronger SLAs. "With SAAS, the SLA concept is now making inroads into the delivery of software over the Web," he says.
