In line with Progress Software's new strategic plan to be a leading platform provider for the next-generation, context-aware applications in the Cloud, the collaboration will enable software developers to deploy, access and analyze applications in the Cloud using the Progress(R) OpenEdge(R) application development platform to achieve the industry's fastest time-to-value.

Keith Budge, Vice President and Managing Director for Asia Pacific and Japan, Progress Software, noted: "We are proud to collaborate with SingTel as this bolsters our strategy to provide new and existing application partners a singular, unified platform to build and deploy applications in the cloud. We look forward to working closely with SingTel in offering cloud infrastructure to our clients in Singapore and the region as a whole."

The Asia Pacific Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) market is attracting considerable interest from businesses due to the flexibility it brings to application development and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), with Frost & Sullivan projecting that the market will grow to reach US$523 million in 2016. The high level of flexibility and the ability to reduce costs while developing, testing, and deploying new applications is creating a strong case for PaaS adoption in the region. Market adoption of SaaS is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20% with one third of all businesses in Singapore adopting SaaS by 2015, while the Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21% and will be led mainly by medium and large businesses.

The OpenEdge(R) platform is supported by SingTel's on-demand cloud service, called PowerON, which can be scaled to the needs of users in minutes. PowerON is SingTel's end-to-end suite of cloud-based services and solutions covering Applications-on-Demand, Infrastructure-on-Demand, Connectivity-on-Demand and Managed Services-on-Demand.

Alvin Kok, Head of Infocomm Services, SingTel, said, "Businesses are already reaping the benefits from cloud computing as many applications can now be accessed through the cloud within their organisations. By harnessing SingTel's cloud capabilities and the Progress(R) OpenEdge(R) platform, Independent Software Vendors can increase their productivity, lower operating expenditure and enhance their agility. This will enable them to develop applications and bring them to the market more easily and quickly."

The Progress(R) OpenEdge(R) application platform is a comprehensive development platform, that is ideal for building dynamic, business process-enabled software applications. It is also one of the world's leading embedded databases to ensure the high availability and scalability demanded by SaaS business applications.