What is an Independent software vendor (ISV)?
An Independent software vendor (ISV) is a software producer not owned or controlled by a hardware manufacturer.
ISVs are also known as software publishers. They specialize in making and selling software to companies that don’t rely on in-house developed software.
Even though ISV software is often used en-masse by individual third parties, and in some cases even extended and customized, it remains the vendor’s property.
It is common practice and also expected that ISVs make software products that are able to run on multiple
hardware and operating system combinations. Leading companies in the computing software and hardware markets, such as Microsoft, often support ISVs as trusted business partners.
Nowadays, ISVs have become the primary group of software producers in the IT industry, often at the forefront of developing new technologies and solutions.
What does ISV-certified mean?
Hardware providers, cloud platforms, and operating systems will want to check independent software vendors to ensure compatibility before working with an ISV. Being ISV-certified is to guarantee the quality of the solution.
What is an ISV partner?
An ISV partner is essentially the same as an ISV-certified independent software provider. The main difference is that most ISV partnerships are less exclusive than ISV-certified programs, making it easier for ISV software companies to join.
