We have had some experience with this kind of question, although we are using Pharo to develop, but GemStone in production. We provide our systems on a SaaS model to all our customers.
We have set up Escrow agreements with some of our clients, which involves a third party company. At the very first level, this company acts as a "safekeeper" and verifier of the escrow event. This means that the escrow agent can start up your application and keep it running, until your customer have found a solution. Should the customer need more than thant, the escrow agent can provide the ability to maintain the application, until the customer have a solution. This solution could be that the customer acquires the IP (intellectual property) and proceeds to develop in-house or finds an alternative provider of the service.
Setting up an agreement like this or at least giving your potential customer the comfort that there is option of an escrow agreement, does a lot for risk aversity, in our experience.
The better option is to find an escrow agent that can work on your application, but at the very basic level it requires that the agent can at least "run" the application (eg ensure that it is up, ensure backups are made, etc).
If you need more info, please let me know,��
Otto Behrens +27 82 802 2375 |  |
 | www.finworks.biz |
Disclaimer & Confidentiality Note: This email is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity named above as it may contain information that is confidential and privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email is strictly prohibited. FINWorks cannot be held liable by any person other than the addressee in respect of any opinions, conclusions, advice or other information contained in this email. |