For a dim ray of sunshine in the middle of an otherwise gloomy day (gloomy, at least, for anyone watching the markets) I refer you to a recent study from IDC forecasting a continued expansion in the SaaS market despite our overall economic woes.

This isn't just good news for SaaS investors and vendors, but also for customers and potential customers; it's as clear a signal as you will find that the concept is robust and will encroach increasingly on traditional software provisioning in both good times and bad. The economic advantages may accelerate a trend that already seemed like a clear winner to many of us. Whether you were already on board with the concept or not, however, the uptake had to be of some concern... no matter how impressive a technology or technical concept, without considerable depth of adoption, it risks marginalization and failure in the markets. A significant concern noted by many CIOs when considering SaaS solutions has always been the stability of the vendor. This study goes some way toward addressing that concern. In fact, it may indicate that SaaS providers have a better chance of surviving the downturn and continuing to provide services and support than many of their legacy software providing brethren.