Salesforce.com 2008 Annual Report Download - page 13

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 13 of the 2008 Salesforce.com annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 150

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106
  • 107
  • 108
  • 109
  • 110
  • 111
  • 112
  • 113
  • 114
  • 115
  • 116
  • 117
  • 118
  • 119
  • 120
  • 121
  • 122
  • 123
  • 124
  • 125
  • 126
  • 127
  • 128
  • 129
  • 130
  • 131
  • 132
  • 133
  • 134
  • 135
  • 136
  • 137
  • 138
  • 139
  • 140
  • 141
  • 142
  • 143
  • 144
  • 145
  • 146
  • 147
  • 148
  • 149
  • 150

Table of Contents
service. In 2008 we also introduced a certification program to provide accredited certifications for Salesforce CRM administrators, Force.com developers and
consultants.
In order to expand our reach to the growing customer base, we have also established the Authorized Training Center program that allows authorized
third party training partners to deliver training curriculum. Additionally, as the population of administrators, developers, consultants and partners grows, a
training and exam program has been established for Salesforce certification in specific areas of expertise.
Technology, Development and Operations
Technology and Development
We do not provide software that must be written to different hardware, operating system and database platforms, or that depends upon a customer's
unique systems environment. Rather, we have optimized our service to run on a specific database and operating system using the tools and platforms best
suited to serve our customers. Performance, functional depth and the usability of our service drive our technology decisions and product direction.
We built our service as a highly scalable, multi-tenant application written in Java and Oracle PL/SQL. We use commercially available hardware and a
combination of proprietary and commercially available software, including database software from Oracle Corporation, to provide our service. The
application server is custom-built and runs on a lightweight Java Servlet and Java Server Pages engine. We have custom-built core services such as database
connection pooling and user session management tuned to our specific architecture and environment, allowing us to continue to scale our service. We have
combined a stateless environment, in which a user is not bound to a single server but can be routed in the most optimal way to any number of servers, with an
advanced data caching layer. Our customers can access the service through any Web browser without installing any software or downloading Java applets or
Microsoft ActiveX or .NET controls.
Our service treats all customers as logically separate tenants in central applications and databases. As a result, we are able to spread the cost of
delivering our service across our user base. In addition, because we do not have to manage thousands of distinct applications with their own business logic and
database schemas, we believe that we can scale our business faster than traditional software vendors. Moreover, we can focus our resources on building new
functionality to deliver to our customer base as a whole rather than on maintaining an infrastructure to support each of their distinct applications.
Our research and development efforts are focused on improving and enhancing the features, functionality and security of our existing service offerings
as well as developing new proprietary services such as Force.com. In addition, from time to time we supplement our internal research and development
activities with outside development resources and acquired technology. Because of our common, multi-tenant application architecture, we are able to provide
all of our customers with a service based on a single version of our application. We are able to upgrade all of our customers at the same time with each
release. As a result, we do not have to maintain multiple versions of our application.
Operations
As of January 31, 2009, we serve our customers and users from a single, third-party Web hosting facility located on the west coast of the United States,
leased from Equinix, Inc., except for features added through acquisition which are temporarily served through alternate facilities. The Equinix facility is built
to the same critical systems building codes as hospitals and other vital infrastructure. The facility is secured by around-the-clock guards, biometric access
screening and escort-controlled access, and is supported by on-site backup generators in the event of a power failure. As part of our current disaster recovery
arrangements, all of our customers' data is currently replicated in near real-time in a separate back-up facility located on the east
10