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By Phil Wainewright August 27, 2001 Last week brought news of expansion in several of the ASP enablement schemes operated by leading vendors and providers. Despite the continuing trickle of bad news stories about ASPs failing or restructuring, the fact that more and more companies want to join the industry indicates the underlying strength in the model. Progress Software's ASPen scheme is one of the longest-running, having launched more than two years ago in May 1999. Recently bolstered by the acquisition of ASP enabler and hosting company Allegrix, it announced new managed hosting, educational and demonstration services last week — see related story, Progress Doesn't Stand Still. The ASPen scheme previously offered mainly marketing advice and professional services to help partners create online versions of applications based on the Progress application development and deployment platform. The additional services will make it easier for partners to take their first steps into the ASP model. Although 200 ISVs are members of the scheme, less than half have so far brought applications to market, achieving a total installed base of around 70,000 end user seats. Managed services and application hosting provider Agiliti launched an expanded suite of business and IT services for ISVs wanting to put their applications online. The suite includes modules ranging from preparing applications for online delivery through to marketing and service delivery. ISVs can complement their own offerings to customers by adding Agiliti services such as connectivity and rentable applications including Exchange 2000 and Great Plains. Several dozen ISVs have already taken advantage of the Agiliti scheme, which has an eighteen-month pedigree. The final announcement was IBM's extension of its ASP Prime program, which it renamed xSP Prime — see IBM Adds 'X' Factor. The scheme is being extended to appeal to Web hosters, data centre operators, storage service providers and others as well as the ASPs and ISVs that it currently targets. Like the Progress scheme, IBM's dates back more than two years, having originally been launched in June 1999 by computer manufacturer Sequent, which IBM acquired later that year. More than 300 ISVs have completed the programme, with many more in the pipeline. Participants get advice on readying not only their applications but also their business models for the online service delivery model. Rather than concentrating on established software vendors looking to convert existing packaged products, the xSP Prime team has always maintained a focus on web service vendors that build from scratch for online delivery. Last week, web-native professional services automation provider OpenAir became the latest company to announce its graduation from the scheme.
What's in a Name? It also seems they feel that the technology platforms they started out with — in both cases a Web-native, one-to-many model, by the way — don't need tinkering with. The extensions they've made to their programs are in the realms of education, marketing and positioning — making sure that providers not only have viable technology, but also viable, revenue-generating businesses. The other thing that has changed is the positioning of the schemes. IBM's change from ASP to xSP doesn't make the Prime scheme any less about ASP delivery of applications. What it's really about is bringing its ASP expertise to others in the service provider community, without making them feel they have to give up their existing roles. Every online business service provider is going to have to understand how to deliver online applications as the sector matures, but that doesn't mean they have to turn their entire operation into an ASP business. With its focus on software vendors, Progress describes the ASPen scheme as helping them make the transition from packaged applications to software-as-a-service. But in a telling twist on that familiar phrase, it speaks of a transition to delivering software as a Web service. Adding that small word "Web" introduces a whole new layer of meaning, implying a much more radical shift to emerging web services software architectures. The Progress platform is well-suited to the Web services environment and thus the twist on the conventional phrase is not an idle boast. But it underlines the subtle shift that is taking place as the ASP sector matures. This is not any more about taking existing applications and delivering them online; it's about building software in a radically different way for the Internet environment. Groups like Progress and the xSP Prime team have always known that. That's why their programs remain in strong demand. This review of the week's news highlights is by ASPnews.com founder and consulting analyst Phil Wainewright. A comprehensive news digest is published every month in the ASP News Review newsletter, available exclusively to subscribers. |