On-demand software vendor Salesforce.com launched an application marketplace aimed at developing an ecosystem of third-party developers. Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff, making the announcement at the company's quarterly users' conference on Monday, said the goal was to create an array of applications similar to eBay's.



Marc Benioff

"The next level is not just building applications, but saving and sharing them," Benioff said. "This will help to break through the application backlog and create a greater critical mass."  The marketplace, called AppExchange, went live on Monday, seeded with 70 applications created by Salesforce.com and third-party developers.

For example, OneSource Information Services offers Account Intelligence built on Salesforce.com's platform, which has been re-branded as Appforce. It integrates OneSource's repository of business information with the platform. AppExchange applications will be hosted by OpSource, a company that provides infrastructure for delivering software as a service. A directory lists applications by business category, and user ratings and comments will be included.

Potential users can test the applications within the AppExchange before taking them live within their own Salesforce.com application dashboards. But customers will have to wait until the product's next quarterly release to use them. The applications pull data and functionality from the underlying Salesforce.com software.

"They'll all run in the Salesforce.com platform you already have," Benioff promised the audience of customers and partners. Customers and users of the on-demand software will be able to publish all or components of the customized software they've built on top of Salesforce.com, as will independent software developers. Applications can be shared free or offered for a fee; Salesforce.com will not take a cut of the fees.

Salesforce.com was launched as an alternative to big-box software, such as Siebel CRM. Its announcement came on the same day that Oracle announced its acquisition of Siebel. Both Benioff and Siebel's founder Tom Siebel are ex-Oracle executives, and the drama surrounding these companies in the CRM marketplace is sure to continue.