NetSuite releases "most important" software of the past decade

In its own bid to create an application eco-system, NetSuite has rolled out SuiteBundler, which lets partners reuse and resell one-off application customisations around its ERP suite.

At its annual Revolution partner conference in San Francisco, the firm announced details of SuiteBundler which provides a wizard-like interface for combining assets built on the NetSuite platform. It also includes distribution and installation tools and access to a repository of these "SuiteBundles." NetSuite wants ISVs to use SuiteBundler to build vertical applications on NetSuite's SuiteFlex platform and resell them in the marketplace. To use the third-party, on-demand applications, new customers would need a NetSuite ERP subscription.

"We believe that SuiteBundler will prove to be one of the most important pieces of software written in the last decade," said NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson. "The ability to take a piece of custom functionality that was designed as a one-off for customisation for a single customer and use it repeatedly for other implementations has been the holy grail for services companies."

Nelson said one possible enterprise use of SuiteBuilder lies in application testing. NetSuite customers could try out new custom combinations in sandboxes before deploying them. "It's more important for our partners than it is for NetSuite," he aded. “Our environment is all about extending our applications. The mid-market doesn't want to build applications. They want to run businesses. Enterprises? They'll build applications all day."

SuiteBundler comes with four major components: Bundle Builder, a three-step wizard that selects and creates the bundle; Bundle Distribution, for partners creating a bundle to distribute it to customers who choose to run it as is or make their own customisations; SuiteSource Bundle Repository, which allows partners creating SuiteBundles to save the customer-installation-ready version of their SuiteBundle; and Bundle Installation, which installs the custom bundle.

"It's an enabling technology for the channel and reseller community," said Craig Sullivan, vice president of product management for Netsuite. “It allows them to take their best practices for specific industries and create bundles that are their own on-demand apps for that market. They can avoid having to replicate work which is important to SMEs who don’t have time nad budget to spend months and months on a purchase.”

NetSuite and its partners also have created a number of vertical solutions for various industries, including software, media and publishing, IT resellers, agriculture equipment dealerships, seaport marina management, retail point of sale, franchises for packaging and shipping materials and electronics wholesale distribution.

Two UK firms are among the first to develop vertical solutions using SuiteBundler. Into Technology International has developed a specialist solution for the electronics distribution industry while Nolan Computers is developing a solution for companies dealing with fixed asset management and managing the value of depreciating assets.

"It's a significant thing that we're able to deliver our fixed asset solution as just another module within NetSuite," said Tim Nolan, chief executive of Nolan Computers. "SuiteBundler makes it extremely simple and slick for us to deliver this to customers so they can't even tell where NetSuite's functionality ends, and ours begins."