Asp application development uk

The ASP model is maturing nicely but, as Steve Gold discovers, it is not through with its growing pains just yet.

JUST AS THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS industry a decade ago started to get used to the idea that ISPs were gradually encroaching on their territory, siphoning away VPN, dialup and even telephony traffic, so the industry is now getting used to ASPs.

ASPs, short for application service providers, are an interesting development for an IT industry that, just a few short yeas ago, was dismissing Voice over IP as a low-cost consumer fad.

ASPs, in essence, operate a fat server, thin client arrangement to allow IT managers to outsource many of their IT functions, including applications software access, to a remote server -- safe in the knowledge that the ASP's data centre resourees have much higher uptime than their own IT systems.

The problem for IT managers, however, is convincing their boards of directors that devolving the company's IT resources to a remote data centre, attached by the umbilical cord of an IP pipe, is a desirable option.

Financial directors have rushed to embrace ASPs, simply because the cost savings that can be derived from using outsourced IT functions more than outweighs the preparation and persuasion needed to assure their fellow board level directors that going with an ASP is a viable option.

Despite the cost and provable service level benefits, IDC's New Year analysis of the ASP marketplace this January concluded that that the last 12 months have been something of a wild ride for ASPs.

"For ASPs, watching the dot-coms' slide has been like standing on Titanic's fantail with the band," it said, adding that much of the early thinking around the ASP concept has been tested, and some of it has failed.

In its analysis, IDC's ASP Advisor, its weekly email newsletter for clients, concluded that the actual term ASP has taken some hits during 2000, reflecting the reality that ASPs are simply one point along an outsourcing continuum.

"The lines have blurred between ASPs, web hosting firms, system integrators, and even some former ASPs that wish to be called `full service providers'," the research firm says. It added that no matter what such Internet firms are called, the business of delivering applications as a service is with the industry to stay.

IDC warns, however, that the ASP's apparent "one size fits all" strategy doesn't cut it, as web delivery, centralised facilities and long-term service engagements are being adopted by many software and services vendors. The firm says it discovered that while the model for the ASP market focused on SMEs, larger businesses figured more prominently than anticipated. Many SMEs, it observes, are taking a wait-and-see attitude with respect to ASPs. In the longer term, this may not be all bad.

"Larger companies have the resources and the pain that ASPs can turn into business. Unfortunately, the economies of scale associated with the one-to-many model continue to remain illusive," IDC's analysis says.

"Extensive integration and customisation, once seen as the devil's workshop, are providing ASPs with skills and reputations that differentiate them to their customer base. Ultimately, these hard-won successes will lend credibility to the model as a whole and may begin to sway the SMEs," it adds.

The research firm concludes that ASPs are changing. The parade may be over and the banners may be different, but the change has come.

"Yes, broadband and on-demand goodies are taking longer than we would like, but when IBM invests $4bn to become a fee-for-use, on-demand computer services provider, can the future be in doubt?"

It's against this backdrop that Eric Grayson, MD of European operations with Network Computing Devices (NCD), a major ASP, argues that the ASP model is highly viable for most major companies.

"At the moment, NCD is seeing large corporates moving to internal ASP models which are controlled from a central data centre. This means that they are moving to the model but not outsourcing the applications, with the exception of some vertical applications which are doing well in specific industries," he says.

According to Grayson, the concept has not been completely adopted yet, as many software packages and company network systems are not set-up for the true ASP model. Grayson points out that there are as many benefits as there are doubts when it comes to outsourcing network applications, ranging from cost advantages to security worries.

For example can the provider guarantee QoS in an SLA; how hacker-proof is their core network; can their gateways handle the traffic; and are the applications on offer right for you, the user?

"The industry has been working with service level agreements for years, mainly within mainframe and mid-range company environments, so the level of service in a SLA has already been established," he says. "Security is always important when developing solutions although there are still holes to plug. Gateways are more scaleable, so can handle the increased mass of traffic, the question is whether the solution provider is managing the growth properly, not the gateways handling the traffic," he adds.

Larger corporations, he argues, have more complicated services, so software and client/server applications need to be modified and network traffic needs to be increased. As a result many want to move in the direction of ASPs because of the lower costs involved.

SPECIALISTS FLOCK TO ASPS

One of the most interesting developments in the communications industry recently has been the teaming up of carriers and IT vendors to develop ASP solutions for their clients.

Proving the old `if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' adage, SITA, the airline datacomms consortium, teamed up with SAP, the systems integration firm, last November, to offer the world's first range of airline ASP services.

Karl Moore, a spokesperson for SITA, says that the data communications carrier was originally created by a consortium of eleven airlines in 1949, and has been providing communication services worldwide for the airline and allied industries.

"Basically we provide a broad range of services, centering on communication facilities, to airlines and other interested parties around the world, including dial-up and leased line services in very remote areas where there are airports," he says. The two firms are planning to offer a complete range of ASP services to the air transport industry this year.

Migrating to the ASP bandwagon is not such a major move for a telecoms carrier like SITA, Moore says, adding that not many people are aware of the fact that SITA already has two centres of excellence, one in Atlanta, the other in London.

"With the ASP, we're offering a complete set of services to the air transport industry, including fleet management, flight management, reservations and so on, all across our network, in return for a regular subscription," he says.

The game plan is for SITA and SAP to initially offer their combined ASP services to each others' customers, but the plan is also for a new and independent ASP company to be created to offer the world's air transport community the services.

John Watson, SITA's director, says that the joint venture between the two firms will change the way e-business is transacted in the air transportation industry. "We're taking the lead in providing our customers with affordable access to the latest business applications available, allowing them to rapidly streamline and more effectively manage all aspects of their global operations," he explains.

According to Watson, air industry companies are always looking to reduce the total cost of systems ownership, and, by using the ASP business model, SITA will be offering the air transport industry scaleable applications, predictable costs and open access to the latest technologies.

With airlines effectively flocking to hop on to the outsourced ASP bandwagon, there is every reason to conclude that ASPs offer at least as robust an IT environment to companies as having their IT operations in-house. But what about the security issue?

That question was answered late last year when Baltimore Technologies announced it was moving into the ASP marketplace with a variety of new services.

Evanna Kearins, a spokesperson for the IT security firm, claims that the ASP range of services draws together several existing services, including PKI hosting, VPNs, secure web access, and content filtering, along with a number of new features, to offer a customised portfolio of services to company customers. "Initially, we're looking at offering the ASP services in the UK and Europe, but will also extend them to US customers in the next few months," she says.