Kana joins the hosted parade

With a simple announcement on Tuesday morning, Kana Software Inc. in Menlo Park, Calif., became the latest software company to join the scramble for a slice of the hosted CRM pie.

Kana OnDemand provides Kana's full suite of service resource management as part of its iCare suite. The hosted version is available immediately.

For more information Make sense of all the hosting hype. Read about Kana Service 8.

The hosted version is identical to the on premise software and has not been rearchitected for Web delivery, said H.A. Schade, Kana's vice president of products.

In fact, between 50 and 100 customers are already hosting Kana applications through third-party vendors. The new initiative was announced in an effort to fill that need and give some of Kana's larger customers and prospects an additional option, Schade said.

"What our customers have been asking for is to give them some options and flexibility in the way they license Kana's application," Schade said.

Kana's applications will now be available either through a hosted model or on premise and either through subscription or perpetual pricing models. Kana did not announce the pricing structure or its hosting partners.

Kana already offers its Response Live online collaboration tool as a hosted service.