Editing Independent software vendor (section)

{{Short description|Company specializing in software sales}}
{{refimprove|date=May 2009}}
An '''independent software vendor''' ('''ISV'''), also known as a '''software publisher''', is an organization specializing in making and selling [[software]], in contrast to [[computer hardware]],<ref>[http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/isv-independent-software-vendor/ ISV (independent software vendor)]</ref> designed for [[mass marketing|mass]] or [[niche market|niche]] markets. This is in contrast to [[in-house software]], which is developed by the organization that will use it, or [[custom software]], which is designed or adapted for a single, specific third party. Although ISV-provided software is consumed by end users, it remains the property of the vendor.

Software products developed by ISVs serve a wide variety of purposes. Examples include software for [[real estate]] brokers, scheduling for healthcare personnel, [[barcode]] scanning, stock maintenance, [[gambling]], retailing, energy exploration, vehicle fleet management, and [[child care management software]].

An ISV makes and sells software products that run on one or more computer hardware or operating system platforms. Companies that make the platforms, such as [[Microsoft]], [[AWS]], [[Cisco]], [[IBM]], [[Hewlett-Packard]], [[Red Hat]], [[Google]], [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]], [[VMware]], Lenovo, [[Apple Inc.|Apple]], [[SAP AG|SAP]], [[Salesforce]] and [[ServiceNow]]<!--this one barely makes the grade here; let's not add ever more of even less--> encourage and lend support to ISVs, often with special "business partner" programs. These programs enable the platform provider and the ISV to leverage joint strengths and convert them into incremental business opportunities.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Popp |first1=Karl M. |last2=Meyer |first2=Ralf |year=2010 |title=Profit from Software Ecosystems: Business Models, Ecosystems and Partnerships in the Software Industry |publisher=BOD |location=Norderstedt, Germany |isbn=978-3-8391-6983-4}}</ref>

Independent software vendors have become one of the primary groups in the IT industry, often serving as relays to disseminate new technologies and solutions.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://en.compubase.net/Database-of-ISVs_a275.html|title=Database of ISVs|work=compuBase: The Leading ICT Channel Intelligence Company|access-date=2016-12-16}}</ref>

Examples of ISV includes [[Microsoft]], [[Red Hat]], [[Canonical Ltd.|Canonical]], [[Adobe Inc.|Adobe]], [[Oracle Corp.|Oracle]].