Application Service Providers

The sections below cover the fundamentals of ASPs and offer explanations of how they should be deployed. To go directly to a section, click on one of the links:

What are ASPs?
The Business Benefits of the ASP Model
Deploying the ASP Model in the Corporate Environment
Issues with ASPs?
The Future of ASPs?
Further Resources for ASPs

What are ASPs?

A good place to start with ASPs is the phrase “applications over the wire”. Rather than installing and running applications on your own server, you can outsource them to a third party and access them over the Internet. The third party is known as the Application Service Provider or ASP, who gives you application access in the same way that an Internet Service Provider gives you Internet access. (Note – they don’t have to be the same party)

As usual, from this simple definition things can get quite complicated – there are as many types of ASP as there are ways of hosting and delivering an application over the Internet. There is a two-page primer on types of application services, by ASP guru Phil Wainewright on (subscription-only) TechRepublic, here, however it is becoming a little dated. The aforementioned Mr W has produced an updated view of ASP types, in the form of the ASP Value Chain at ASP News. Click here if you only want the nice picture.

A more comprehensive explanation by Cherry Tree & Co (with lots more nice pictures) is available here.

The Business Benefits of the ASP Model

The benefits of ASPs are a combination of the benefits of outsourcing, with the reduced costs of using the Internet as infrastructure. For the former, consider the following:

time to market – another company can provide an application faster than you can build it
reduced overheads – it is cheaper for one organisation to manage an application for multiple companies, than for each to manage their own
resource management – maybe you haven’t go the facilities to deploy or manage the application anyway

Despite the free publicity for Citrix (OK, it probably wasn’t free), the first couple of pages of the CIO.com article here do a good job of articulating the benefits of using an ASP. In addition, the technical efficiency of the ASP model is explained in an ASP Island article here.

Finally, two articles which add some quote-worthy pointers on both business benefits and pitfalls – the catchily-titled ASPs simplify technology issues by managing access to software from the Business Journal of Kansas City, and.the Markets and Exchanges article What ASPs Can Do For You.

Deploying the ASP Model in the Corporate Environment

Some basics on deploying ASPs:

Be proactive – don’t think that the handover of control to an ASP is a simple process. A good article explaining why can be found here.
Remember security – like other Internet-based applications, security is a primary concern as described here.
Service levels are essential – be sure you are given (legally) satisfactory guarantees about the service you will be, as presented here.

The ASP Industry Consortium (ASPEN – don’t ask us why) hosts a number of articles on choosing and using ASPs, including buyers guides to ASPs and SLAs. Another article on how to identify a suitable ASP can be found here, and this article lists selection criteria.

Issues with ASPs

ASPs are new and unproven, and a number of attempts at deploying or even becoming an ASP have already led to failure. Key to the success of an ASP is its ability to deliver managed service levels, and key to a company’s use of an ASP is the specification (and guarantee) of appropriate service levels for the business. The Computerworld article Avoiding ASP Angst provides a sobering cautionary tale and recommends “ask the right questions up front.”

If the worst comes to the worst, help is at hand in the form of this Exit Strategies article at Computer Reseller News. Also, there is the comprehensive paper on Dispute avoidance and resolution best practices from the ASP Consortium. This lists the common disputes and how to avoid them, we take our hats off to this group for its honesty!

The Future of ASPs

The future of ASP is intertwined with that of Web services, which we cover here.

ASPs are seen by some to be a temporary situation. It is generally agreed that service providers in general are going through various evolutions, and that the worlds of communications, media and the Internet are merging. It looks likely (how do we know? OK, we guessed) that service providers will form into two categories:

general service providers, who cover all the bases
specialist service providers, covering such areas as security, application hosting, business services and the like.

One such split is illustrated here. In the meantime, many types of organisation are jumping on the ASP bandwagon as illustrated here and here.

Further Resources on ASPs

Aspnews.com is a very good starting point for information about ASPs, as is Asp.com,

http://searchasp.techtarget.com/ is also a comprehensive, well-organised site,

The ASP Industry Consortium provides some straightforward resources.