Application Service Providers (ASPs) - Guide to Cloud Computing for Business and Technology Managers - page 229

11
Application Service Providers (ASPs)
Applications are evolving from those that facilitated a single business func-
tion (e.g., accounting and payroll) to integrated application environments
that facilitate business processes spanning entire enterprises or the extended
enterprises. This evolution entails more people, planning, and ongoing man-
agement, especially for mission-critical applications that must maintain a
high level of availability. With such increasing complexity and the increased
amount of time and skill needed to keep up with the rapidly changing tech-
nology cycles, organizations are increasingly seeking outside assistance to
deploy, manage, and enhance their applications.
Application Outsourcing (AO) is a service wherein responsibility for the
deployment, management, and enhancement of a packaged or customized
software application is handed out contractually to an external service pro-
vider. AO entails specific activities and expertise aimed at managing the soft-
ware application or set of applications. Contractual service-level agreements
(SLAs) are set at the application level and include responsibilities for
• Application availability
• Application performance
• Application enhancement
Figure 11.1 presents the positioning of the various types of application out-
sourcers based on the type of application being outsourced (proprietary vs.
packaged) and the configuration/location of the service provision (one to
one or one to many).
The salient characteristics of the various categories are as follows:
1. Top-left quadrant—represents data center service providers that pro-
vide application-hosting services and support to other divisions and
are typically managed internally by the enterprises.
2. Bottom-left quadrant—represents the application maintenance service
providers that provide hosting, maintenance, and support of custom-
developed application at the enterprises' site(s).
3. Top-right quadrant—represents the application service providers
that provide operations and maintenance of both packaged and
custom-developed application to disparate enterprises using the
same outsourcing infrastructure (hardware, software, networks,
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