"SAAS is not a market, its just a delivery model -- get over it!" -- Greg Gianforte

This was largely the focus of the Future of Enterprise Software panel yesterday, the first day of ETRE here in Barcelona.  Amidst 3 other rather jetlagged execs and David Kirkpatrick of Fortune, who did an admirable job of moderating a diverse group (RightNow, Transitive, Relativity, ILOG anbd Genpact).  Yes, the future is SaaS, however, you have to consider the $4 billion that has been invested in 2 billion lines of enterprise software code, purchased through the traditional model.  Customers aren't going to abandon what they spent so much money on very quickly.  SaaS will ultimately have an impact on Oracle and SAP and how they make and sell software, but by the time it does, both of those giants will have likely figured out other ways of operating, IF they can get out of their own way.  The newer more nimble smaller companies will quickly start to gain market share, but by comparison that in total will still be smaller than what SAP and Oracle hold combined.

From a Venture Capital standpoint, obviously international was a huge focus (seeing as this is an international conference).  Ray Rothrock of Venrock was very strong in his assertion that you've got to go global as fast as you can, and those vendors that do grow more quickly than others.  There was much talk about China and India as emerging markets, but surprisingly, also Japan.  There were 197 IPOs in Japan this year alone, compared with something like less than 20 in the US.  Sadly, the US as a bellweather and #1 country for technology VC investing has moved to #3 or #4.  The financial markets have become more global and open, just in the last year alone.

Other major trends impacting the technology industry that are themes of this conference are the democratization of software and technology -- as reflected in the societal changes that have taken place through mobile technology, self expression on the web and businss.  Second, the speed of customer acquisition in the last year alone is astounding.  Think about this: it took years for companies like SAP and Oracle to get just 100 customers.  Oracle tries to get more customers by buying them through acquisition.  Today a new startup on the web can get 100 new customers in a second.

Next, the influence of politics on technology is really profound.  Recall the Infineom IPO of this past summer which was severly impacted by the war in Lebanon.  We live in a far more dangerous world today, than the one following 9/11.  Lastly, the rules of business conduct and engagement have changed.  It is always easy to look in the rearview mirror and think about what you would have done differently or not.  But today, the decisions you make so carefully are impacted by changing rules of governance, management and ethics.  Even the best made decisions that have all the chances for success may not succeed because of the volatility of the environment.

These are some of the themes discussed yesterday and in this morning's sessions.  There was more discussion around Japan and the trials and tribulations of Sony, as well as the challenges and opportunities facing the wireless industry as outlined by David Einstein (SF Chonicle)'s afternoon panel regarding the relative value of content over distribution. Enlightening was Jean Phillippe Courtois of Microsoft's almost inability to directly answer any question about how Microsoft can move and stay agile as such a large company.  Alex Vieux went for jugular as he pointed out that Microsoft continues to deliver poor products late.

Now off to the Marketing 2.0 panel with our friends from Brands2Life (stay tuned for an announcement we have coming up with them next week) and 24/7Real Media along with others.  Barcelona itself is lovely, although its tough to get used to eating at 9pm!