Under the hood
A growing number of companies are busily creating new Web-based platforms on which other software -- or businesses -- can be built.
By Erick Schonfeld, Om Malik, and Michael V. Copeland

SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) - A related area of frenzied action is among the growing number of companies either offering themselves as Web-based platforms on which other software and businesses can be built or developing basic tools that make some of the defining hallmarks of the Next Net possible.

For instance, Salesforce.com (Research), a relative veteran that pioneered the delivery of software over the Internet, recently launched a platform called AppExchange; any programmer can write an application to run on AppExchange, and Salesforce.com will host and deliver it to customers.

Photo GallerylaunchSee more photos
Click here
BUSINESS 2.0: THE NEXT NET 25
| Gallery
| Gallery
| Gallery
| Gallery
| Gallery

Meanwhile, startup Brightcove is building a video publishing and distribution platform for Internet TV. It will allow companies such as AOL and Viacom (Research)--as well as smaller publishers--to deliver video over the Web, as either downloads or streams with ads attached.

Then there are the toolmakers. By developing blog-authoring software called Moveable Type and TypePad, Six Apart has been a catalyst for the whole Next Net phenomenon. Its software has helped everyone from Pittsburgh's Super Bowl-winning quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, to humorist Dave Barry create blogs.

Startup SimpleFeed enables companies such as EMC (Research) and Intuit (Research) to use RSS feeds as an opt-in marketing tool. The feeds can be customized to each recipient and tracked individually for both internal messaging and external marketing campaigns.

See the full list and photo gallery: The Next Net 25

To send a letter to the editor about this story, click hereTop of page

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in.

Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions.
Manage alerts | What is this?
Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2012 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones IndexesSM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones IndexesSM © 2012 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2012. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.
Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2012 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones IndexesSM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones IndexesSM © 2012 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2012. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.