Custom software developer Epiphany Inc. has joined NetSuite’s (News - Alert) newly launched BOS (Business Operating System) Developer Program, meaning that it is now using NetSuite’s Business Operating System (NS-BOS) to create highly reliable custom business software applications for its customers.

NS-BOS delivers a platform for customization and vertical application creation that includes Software as a Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) infrastructure. Applications developed by third parties on NS-BOS can be hosted on NetSuite's multi-tenant, on-demand architecture. This eliminates setup costs and on-going maintenance while at the same time giving customers a browser-based application that can be accessed securely, anytime and anywhere.

In addition to its SaaS capabilities, the NS-BOS platform includes the Core Business Management Suite, a set of vertical business applications offering core accounting, customer management and ecommerce functionality.

“By including the NetSuite application within the NS-BOS application development environment, developers can embed the industry leading on-demand ERP/CRM/Ecommerce suite within their applications,” last week’s press release from NetSuite states. “This enables ISVs to shift their efforts from building core application capabilities like accounting, inventory or order management to focus instead on adding features designed for specific industries, leveraging NetSuite's underlying capabilities.”

The NS-BOS platform also includes SuiteFlex, NetSuite’s core technology enabling development, customization, verticalization, integration and business process automation. It also includes the new SuiteScript D-Bug, “the first real-time, interactive debugger to allow code validation and testing as third-party applications run on the application server.” This debugger enables third-party applications to be tested in an actual server environment, against live data, allowing developers to see and correct the behavior exhibited by the application in real-world conditions. Finally, NS-BOS includes SuiteBundler, which allows for the delivery of “ISV-built vertical solutions to SaaS customers in a packaged, repeatable manner.” In other words, it lets developer reuse code to create new applications for new customer deployments, thus “eliminating the time-consuming, error-prone overhead of re-coding applications.”

Epiphany, an existing NetSuite partner, is now using NetSuite apps to target four industries. The company started with the launch of its dNet product, for low voltage contractors, then it launched FloorNet, for commercial floor cleaning companies, during NetSuite's annual partner conference in 2007. More recently the company launched two new vertical solutions which will be delivered via NS-BOS (SaaS), including “PedigreeNet,” a verticalized version of NetSuite which enables pharmaceutical distributors to track the origin of drugs and add their information to the pedigree when the drug is sold from their location (tracking pedigrees is a federally mandated requirement for pharmaceutical distributors), and “VarNet” which lets value-added resellers (VARs) for large high-tech vendors to have their quotes and other information quickly and easily integrated into NetSuite to facilitate faster operations. With VarNet, VARs can also track the manufacturer's pipeline, as per their specifications.

"The vision for NS-BOS is to allow developers, ISVs and solution providers to build their unique vertical-specific knowledge and services into NetSuite and deploy it in a repeatable manner to customers in that industry," said Mini Peiris, VP of product management of NetSuite Inc., in a press release. "We are extremely pleased to see Epiphany leverage NetSuite to effectively realize the vision behind NS-BOS to address the unique needs of four distinct industries."

For more information about Epiphany, please visit www.epiphany.com.

For more information about NetSuite, visit www.netsuite.com.

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