Application Service Providers (ASPs)

Application Service Providers provide rentable applications for businesses.  ASPs host a variety of applications and allow companies to utilize these software packages or services over a network without the burden of implementation and maintenance.  ASPs provide many software solutions such as: CRM packages, SFA packages, ERP packages, database products, accounting software, web hosting, e-mail hosting, desktop productivity suites, etc.  ASPs hope to provide secure, reliable applications for network use for companies.  However, they are still early in their development and have some problems yet to overcome.  Security is one of these issues.  Anything used over the network is fairly vulnerable to attacks and ASPs will have to deal with this issue if they hope to become a reliable provider of business critical applications.  Customization is another issue, many of the ASPs are not providing much customization, which may deter companies from using ASPs as a solution.  ASPs could prove to be the next wave of computing because they allow businesses to utilize expensive packages without paying IT staff to implement the solutions and then to maintain the packages and the hardware.  This could prove to be especially beneficial to small and medium size companies that may not have the capital to invest in large scale solutions (or that want to focus on areas other than IT).  They could also change desktop computing by offering the use of traditional desktop packages at a lower cost.  This would allow a home user to connect to an ISP and use packages for a monthly fee thereby reducing the sale of off-the-shelf packages.       

What is an Application Service Provider?

• "Application Service Providers - A New Playing Field?" -- by Michael Robertson and Kim Gordon

  • This article provides a good look at ASPs, including their effects on other industries (communications industry, application providers, service providers, etc.).  It also breaks ASPs into three classes: Environment Service Provision, Selective Application Outsourcing and Hosting, and Web-based Applications over the Internet. 

• An excerpt from the book Building Corporate Portals with XML by Clive Finklestein discussing the ASPs part in ubiqitous computing by building hosted portals with XML.

  • "This will be the true realization of Network Computing. Not by using Java as a portable language – as promoted by Sun and Oracle. But by outsourcing hardware, servers, networks and network management, software and software management, help desk, maintenance and other Total Costs of Ownership (TCO) to ASPs. This is a radical move that will transform desktop computing as we know it. It will provide ubiquitous computing through the Internet and the intranet. And with a move to wider bandwidths on the Internet – with higher data rates available also through wireless computing via PDAs or mobile phones that access the Internet for email and browsing – we will soon be able to work not just from the office, but from anywhere. In a few short years these ASPs will become Information Utilities for the future. "

• B2B Net's Application Service Provider Page

  • Contains a Good Definition of an ASP along with many great links to ASP pages

• ASP Research Center

  • CIO Magazines ASP page -- Definitions, Benefits, Disadvantages, and Links

• Homepage of the ASP Industry Consortium

  • Looks like this page is still early in its development

• "ASP's: Leading Us Into the Third Generation of IT"

  • A Good Article Explaining ASP's by Jean-Christophe Cimetiere for Intranet Design Magazine

• How ASP's Work

  • How Stuff Works looks at ASPs

• ZDNet's ASP Resource Center

  • Contains Discussion Groups, Links to white papers and books, Links to ASPs, and New stories

• "Application Service Providers: An Old Idea Made New" -- by Frank Dzubeck for Network World Fusion

• Application Service Providers (ASP) Are A Future Trend in Software Sales

  • Microsoft's Take on ASPs

  • "Gates Goes on ASP Quest"

• ASPnews.com

The Advantages:

• What to Expect from an ASP -- from Outsourcing With ASP's in the Internet Age by Stewart McKie from Business Finance
  • Web-site hosting and e-mail storage and routing services
  • ERP and other complementary business application hosting
  • Configurable e-commerce storefronts for selling on the Web
  • Access to procurement trading hubs for buying on the Web
  • Support for EDI (electronic data interchange) or other electronic transaction transmission
  • Secure Internet access to application servers (e.g., via a virtual private network, or VPN)
  • Highly configurable application-level security to limit functional access
  • Template-based ERP system setup functions to reduce implementation time
  • Online training courses, manuals and frequently asked questions (FAQ) documents
  • Online application support via real-time Internet chat, e-mail and self-service help desks
  • Use of "failover" backup servers to provide application uptime 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year
  • Automated offline data backup scheduling for disaster recovery
  • Automatic load balancing to ensure optimum application accessibility under user load
  • Simple "add a new user" Web sign-up
  • User-based monthly application rental fee and low initial system setup fee (if any)
  • Regular statistics showing user activity by application for usage analysis
  • Delivery of application reports, documents and alerts to users via e-mail
  • Electronic workflow via e-mail or a Web browser
  • Service level agreements (SLAs) to ensure that mutually acceptable service standards are met
  • Capability to automatically upload data to and download data from applications
• "How Application Service Providers Will Change Your Life" -- by Jim Seymour for thestreet.com
• "How Application Service Providers Will Change Your Life: Part II" -- by Jim Seymour for thestreet.com

The Disadvantages:

• Denial of Service Attacks, Network Security and Debugging

  • "Application Service Providers: Are They Sitting Ducks" -- by Mark Joseph Edwards in Windows 2000 Magazine Online

• Security, Lack of Customization, Lack of Maturity in ASP's

  • "Users Take Cautious Approach To Application Service Providers" -- by Mary E. Thyfault for Information Week Online

Application Service Providers:

• Corio, Inc.

• Qwest Cyber.Solutions

• USInternetworking

CRM, SAP, and SFA connections to ASPs

• "CRM Application Service Providers" -- by Paul Sweeney

• MySAP Application Hosting Solutions

• PeopleSoft Application Hosting Solutions

• "Applicast Committed to Siebel eBUSINESS 2000"

A Full Service Provider?

• "The Next Frontier: Full-Service Providers" -- by Mary E. Thyfault for Information Week Online

Conferences:

• ASPWorld Conference and Expo