The tactic behind the one-stop shop is building up a lot of traction, not just for traditional IT but also the cloud, although it conveys a somewhat different meaning in this space. Specialized marketplaces enable customers to browse individual solutions from different vendors in one place, rather than having to skim through a bunch of corporate websites on their own.

Better accessibility is coupled by actual filtering options.  The Cloud Computing Showplace is an example of one major marketplace that lists SaaS and IaaS offerings by relevant categories, and it’s not the only one out there. VMware also entered the fray earlier this year when it launched the VMware Solution Exchange, a catalog that lists a broader range of solutions from its partners. At the time the virtualization firm provided a glimpse into the thinking behind the initiative (see full release):

“The proliferation of social media tools has evolved the way many people use the Internet to search, share and discover information, with user-generated feedback and community engagement playing an important role.

The VMware Solution Exchange looks to provide this familiar experience, by empowering customers to utilize search tools, explore rich multimedia content, and directly engage with partners and developers…”

Cloud marketplaces such as VMware’s carved out a niche for themselves in the enterprise, and now this trend is evolving to a whole different level. The broker wants a bigger slice of the pie, and the customer wants not just search but also a lot more convenience, better usage tracking, and even the ability to analyze how workers are using a particular app.

Enter Parallels, a small company with a lot of VC backing that offers organizations the tools to run their own self-service app portal.  And VMware is also doing something similar with Project Octopus, an upcoming service that will be fitted into Application Horizon Manager environments.