|
Application Service Provider, a
company that gives organisations access to software applications across the
internet. Instead of running the software itself, an organisation "rents" it
from an asp ,thus freeing itself of the burden of buying and
maintaining expensive software, servers and support staff. To date,
the most successful offerings have revolved around communications software
such as E-mail and messaging, and many asps also offer payroll,
accounting and human -resources applications. Although the asp model
has clear advantages for companies, many are wary of it, worrying about the
reliability of the provider, the need for 24-hour availability of the
software and the enforceability of complex service- level agreements that
are required to ensure protection against failure of the services.
Most analysts have suggested that the size of the market for asp
services will run into billions of dollars in the next few years, with
figures as high as $25 billion quoted by some for 2004. Idc, a
research company, estimates that the European market alone will be worth
$6.5 billion in 2006. Although early interest in the Asp model was
limited, it has grabbed the attention of the business community as the world
economy has faltered and the need to control cost has grown sharply. Many
companies have rebranded themselves as managed service providers (msps)
rather than asps, offering to take over software assets
completely in the hope of attracting business in the lucrative outsourcing
market. Some estimates predict that over 50% of companies will use the
services of an asp or an msp within the next three years. |
