Web 2.0, unlike SaaS or On Demand, is a term that defies easy definition.  A quick search of technology blogs and news sites reveals as much agreement as disagreement about the meaning of Web 2.0.  Just as the web it describes, the term has evolved since it was first coined to signify a second wave of web development following the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2001.  It is variously used to describe web applications that use specific technologies (such as AJAX or RSS) or include specific functionality, especially related to social networking and collaboration (such as blogging, tagging and file sharing).  More generally, it is used to describe a product development mindset, with the web and associated software as a platform (a commodity!) that enables collaboration and the delivery of services (real value!).  And of course, there are those that simply regard it as yet another empty buzzword used to garner investor and analyst attention.

So what does Web 2.0 mean to eProject and our customers?  Not much, really.

Since our inception in 1997, eProject has been and continues to be focused on delivering web applications and services that provide real value to our customers by helping them solve business problems.  Our technology roadmap, like our product roadmap, is driven by customer need, not industry buzz.  If anything, the hype surrounding Web 2.0 is a validation of the eProject SaaS strategy and our position as a leading provider of OnDemand PPM.  By any measure of what it means to be a Web 2.0, eProject was Web 2.0 before there was Web 2.0.

Collaboration and Information Sharing? 
Starting with the first release of eProject Express, our core value proposition has been business collaboration.  Enabling teams to share and track information so that they may better execute on business initiatives.  In subsequent releases, this distribution of information was extended to portfolio managers and executives, putting key information into the hands of decision makers without requiring project managers to move data from one tool to another.  The upcoming release of PPM6 includes project requests and resource planning, extending the reach of information to steering committees and resource managers.  All in a single integrated, collaborative solution.

Wikis? Blogs? Knowledge management?  Expect eProject to continue to add collaborative, information sharing features that increase the productivity of our customers and their users.

Technology?
AJAX is not new, nor was it new when eProject Enterprise 5.0 introduced a powerful, cutting edge AJAX Gantt chart.  But AJAX made sense and allowed eProject to deliver on our vision of web application requiring no additional client software other than a web browser.  We will continue to use AJAX to improve the user experience and to bring the concept of OnDemand into the product itself--retrieving data when and as it's needed instead of reloading entire pages of content.

RSS? VoIP?  We are always evaluating new technologies and will leverage those that make sense to our customers and their needs.

A Service Platform for Integration?
eProject Enterprise 5.0 introduced Project Transit and the Business Services web service, that enabled our customers to integrate existing practices and processes into eProject and to define new processes.  In PPM6, we've extended our web services to support directory service integration.  In subsequent releases, we will be extending our web services to expose more functionality and to enhance our support for industry standards, such as WS-Security and WS-ReliableMessaging.

Businesses are increasingly turning to SaaS solutions from a variety of vendors and it is critical that such solutions adhere to principals of SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) and EDA (Event Driven Architecture).  More and more complex business processes will be created, spanning multiple systems.  As a result, implementations of BPM (Business Process Management) solutions, currently the purview of enterprises with large IT departments, will become more ubiquitous.  The eProject services platform will contine to evolve to meet the needs of ever more distributed architectures.