Oct. 20--Etisalat and Cordys, a leading provider of software for business process innovation, today announced an alliance to develop & market the Etisalat Cloud Marketplace in the UAE. The platform will allow companies of any size to find and deploy IT services on a pay-per-use basis, through applications developed by Independent Software Vendors (ISVs).

The Etisalat Cloud Marketplace will contain a diverse range of ready to use business applications for companies of any size ranging from small SMBs to large enterprises. Applications will include critical business processes such as Purchase Order, Sales Quote approval, HR Online, and Travel Expense Management among others, which can be purchased by businesses from the cloud on a per-user basis. This will allow businesses to deploy applications quickly and reduce capital expenditure. The Cloud Market place is being demonstrated at Gitex.

According to Abdulla Hashim, Sr.VP, Business Solutions, Etisalat, "This partnership with Cordys will allow Etisalat to fundamentally create a new era of growth in the regional IT market and will allow us to capitalize on opportunities across the markets where Etisalat operates. The Etisalat Cloud Marketplace will allow businesses to access a diverse array of applications and extend their IT infrastructure capabilities with minimal cost and significant flexibility and speed. This is also part of Etisalat's strategic initiatives to introduce a range of innovative services which will position UAE as one of the most advanced nations in terms of Telecom and ICT services."

Based on the Cordys Process Factory, Etisalat will develop and deploy mashup applications (MashApps®), and offer these to the market in a web-based marketplace. Companies can make use of these services in an attractive pay-per-use model. The new Etisalat Cloud solution will be tightly integrated with other clouds , which allows organizations to reduce the cost of their office applications and increase the speed of innovation.

Jan Baan, Cordys CEO, stated: "Platform as a service technology (PaaS) will start to replace corporate middleware infrastructures in the very near future. The Cordys technology that Etisalat is using offers a multipurpose PaaS platform that bridges the gap between the Cloud and any ERP or legacy system. Instead of investing large amounts of money in time-consuming projects to change enterprise software, companies in the UAE can now quickly deploy situational applications and react faster to new market situations and opportunities."

Today's business climate puts an enormous pressure on companies for rapid change and innovation. "The winds of change have begun blowing again, placing new demands on business processes for which traditional systems and license models have no answer", adds Jan Baan.

"We are very happy to provide our technology to Etisalat and help them in their efforts to deliver new and innovative solutions to their customers."

Etisalat and Cordys will also form a community of Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to facilitate the process of developing and deploying applications. ISVs can now access a new channel for software distribution which would lower their distribution and deployment costs in addition to giving them recurring revenue.

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