New Hosting Options for Team Foundation Server

Over the last few years many hosting companies have either added TFS hosting or been created specifically with TFS in mind. Prices vary widely depending on service levels, but in general you are looking at 75 to 125 USD per user just for basic functionality. With the new licensing models available to them in TFS 2010, the hosting company SAAS Made Easy can now cut their monthly starter rates down to around 15 per user. According to Brian Harry, a Product Unit Manager for Team Foundation Server, other companies will likewise be cutting their rates.

Not said is the potential impact on the hosting companies themselves. The huge cut in revenue, even with reduced costs, cannot be healthy for these companies. Cash strapped companies may fail, or even worse, cut corners when it comes to redundant hardware, backups, and other vital tasks that could result in a total loss of the source code. Hopefully these fears are unfounded, but requesting weekly copies of the backups would be prudent for any hosted application.

Turning to more pleasant topics, CodePlex is now offering a hybrid hosting model for open source projects. Using the TFS Integration Platform, developers can now synchronize projects between internal TFS servers and CodePlex. This allows developers to use full capabilities of TFS such as build servers while still easily accepting contributions from outside developers.