 Michael Maoz Analyst Gartner Group melissa.hennesey@gartner.com |
Q. What is an ASP? ASPs are companies that provide application functionality and associated services across a network to multiple customers on a "pay as you go" basis. The ASP may host the application or contract with an application-hosting provider. Either way, the ASP is responsible for all services related to provisioning the functionality, including delivering on end-to-end service-level agreements. The ASP handles application maintenance and upgrades and is directly responsible to the customer for application performance, although the operations may be provided by another vendor. Applications delivered in an ASP mode are primarily distinguished from alternative outsourcing modes in that they have not yet been implemented, solutions are many to one (i.e., noncustomized), there is no transfer of assets and, over the long term, deployment servers are shared. |