Tài liệu ASP Confifuration P2 docx

xxx Foreword To prevent these accidents, railroad companies began deploying telegraphs and creating schedules, which helped to delegate authority for the management of day- to-day business.This created divisions and departments that were far removed from central headquarters and were able to handle things in a geographically closer area. The railroads were able to handle the delivery of goods and products, by ensuring timely delivery. In many cases, different products had different priorities. Perishable products had to be delivered in shorter times than dry goods, for example. The ability to coordinate the delivery of goods, Burke hypothesized, allowed for the creation of the department store.These new stores were able to offer an array of goods to customers, and the products were now available from far and wide, as geo- graphic constraints were removed.These stores started to use the communications and management techniques that were pioneered by the railroads for managing this increasingly complex inventory of products. Since inventory was likely to include items that had a certain level of timeliness attached to them, department stores sought to manage delivery schedules and set priorities for the arrival of particular items. They did this so that they had competitive advantage by being able to deliver popular items before rival stores could.This led to guaranteed delivery that created strong loyalties among big-spending but impatient customers. As you can see, there is a close parallel between the events that led to the arrival of the department store and the future of internet service providers (ISPs) and ASPs. Like the railroad companies, ISPs control the means of transportation; the access to the network, if you will.The railroads could only offer access onto the network of rail lines that they had constructed across the country.With the arrival of more finely tuned services (such as express rail, more reliable schedules, high levels of “uptime,” etc.), railroad customers saw limited benefits. Today’s ISPs also have to deal with a limited set of goods to offer customers. Initially, bandwidth alone was their stock in trade, and that was the norm because no competitors were offering anything but bandwidth, and no customer was demanding more than that. However, as things progress, companies are requiring a larger array of offerings from their ISP. Changing the Business As we look into the deployment of new technologies and how they impact tradi- tional ISPs, it is essential to stress that the Web itself is constantly changing.The future manifestations of the World Wide Web will drive the demand for new ISP businesses such as the ASP model.These new models will drive the changes of the www.syngress.com 130_ASP_Frwd 6/19/01 2:59 PM Page xxx www.syngress.com Web from within.The Web is becoming increasingly frictionless.The Internet is able to spread information to clients that is personalized to meet their specific needs and interests. In the early use of the Internet as a viable business model, there were no differ- entiated classes of service to applications.Applications that made money for the com- pany were given the same priority as lesser or nonrevenue-generating applications. In order to counteract this flawed model, the application that generates revenue should have “always on” high-availability status that allows it to meet customer demands.This also allows for the prioritization of different classes for customers, so the businesses that are willing to spend more will gain more robust access than the window shopper. The Electronic Economy The electronic economy has provided ISPs with a challenging and demanding Web environment. In 1994, the Internet was mainly used for the publishing of information and related marketing activities of a company. Now, people routinely use the Internet for information gathering on any and all topics. Many companies (even most nontech- nical companies) established a presence on the World Wide Web. It was almost like a validation for their existence in a market that was too vast to understand. Information in these Web sites about offerings and prices of goods and services allowed for a modicum of stickiness. People started to e-mail each other about var- ious sites, and these spikes in attention created traffic, and so on. In 1997, a new technology was incorporated into the Web.The ability to perform transactions was introduced and configured to work with vendors’ Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, which provided seamless integration with backend systems. End-users were able to buy products and services through their Web browsers.This was a boon and a pariah at the same time. In this day and age, very few Web sites occupy markets without some form of competition.This is fairly understandable as there is very little barring multiple sites from inhabiting the same markets. Price points and services are the differentiators for these sites. Online vendors are always looking for ways to draw users to their sites, and keep them there. For the most part, goods were sold from fixed-price lists, which is part of the reason that many of the brick and mortar companies were unable to jump directly into the Web economy. As an example, you may go to a store that is part of a nationwide chain. Depending on where you are, the price for an item may be higher or lower.There are several factors as to why this works, such as geograph- Foreword xxxi 130_ASP_Frwd 6/19/01 2:59 PM Page xxxi xxxii Foreword ical economics and relative need in an area. Most Web-enabled vendors have distribu- tion points that are located throughout a region, which allows them to charge a stan- dard rate for the items that are purchased. The most recent wave of the electronic economy is the movement to the hosted and managed application model. In these models, the issues of scale and reach are less dependent on location and more dependent on the ability to access business applica- tions in a timely manner. The electronic economy allowed for greater flexibility in the implementation and monitoring of hosted Web servers and gave ISPs the ability to offer a range of services to their customers.This has a ripple effect in that it will in turn create newer business models, which will spawn even more ripples.The intersection of customer demand and new technologies in the electronic economy will allow for more flexible hosting options that will create the same type of explosion in economic activity that consistent, predictable rail service had on dry-good merchants in the nineteenth century. New Opportunities for Service Providers Internet service providers are finding new opportunities in the hosting of online transaction sites.These hosting opportunities allow ISPs to offer a full suite of online sales and services, by connecting online commerce databases to their clients’ core business software applications. As it stands now, the simple transfer of applications from the intranet to an ISP as an outsourced service is not the only business model for ISPs to pursue.There is also a trend toward a more granular and complex price-for-service matrix that can extend beyond hardware, software, and access packages that are currently offered by ISPs.The ASP will look for more sophisticated prospects in the form of processing power and transaction-per-second service level agreements (SLAs) for their clients.This book will help ASPs to focus their attention on the optimization of their application envi- ronment, while competing on a price for performance matrix with other ASPs. In conclusion, the future of a well-managed and maintained ASP is bright.The ASPs’ best days may yet be ahead of them.ASPs will be able to offer better services, retain and grow their customer base, and generate higher margins and profits. One of the key elements in creating this next-generation ASP will be the ability to extend its offerings in the uncontrollably changing environment of the World Wide Web.The ASP that can react quickly and efficiently to customers’ needs will be the ASP that thrives in the coming years. www.syngress.com 130_ASP_Frwd 6/19/01 2:59 PM Page xxxii Foreword xxxiii Just as Burke hypothesized that railroads brought a whole new array of products and opportunities to the retail merchants of the nineteenth century, ASPs will give ISPs an entirely new range of opportunities. ISPs will be the nexus for a wide variety of services, not only for current customers, but also for those seeking ways to com- pete and survive in the next generation of the Internet. —Dale Booth, Chief Executive Officer EngineX Networks, Inc. www.syngress.com 130_ASP_Frwd 6/19/01 2:59 PM Page xxxiii 130_ASP_Frwd 6/19/01 2:59 PM Page xxxiv An Introduction to ASPs for ISPs Solutions in this chapter: ■ Why This Book Is for You ■ Definitions of Common ASP Terms ■ The Elements That Make an ASP Viable ■ Possible Business Models and Offerings ■ Types of ASP Firms ■ The OSI-ISO Seven Layer Model ■ Choosing the Best Platform for Your ASP ■ Business Drivers for the Conversion to ASP ■ Performance Issues ■ Problems That Could Arise from Conversion ■ Major Issues in the Implementation of an ASP Model ■ What Is Needed to Sell Your Services ; Summary ; Solutions Fast Track ; Frequently Asked Questions Chapter 1 1 130_ASP_01 6/19/01 2:42 PM Page 1 2 Chapter 1 • An Introduction to ASPs for ISPs Introduction Internet service providers (ISPs) have customarily been suppliers of bandwidth and connectivity to their clients. ISPs are now finding that they are faced with a progressively narrowing margin brought on by fierce competition, with little available differentiation in their offerings. In order to reverse this decline in prof- itability, ISPs have begun to expand services beyond bandwidth and connectivity, by adding remote hosting services such as outsourcing applications and electronic commerce. ISPs will need to offer new sets of services and tools to manage and reduce costs.These services will give ISPs a distinctive advantage over other ISPs, while creating the opportunity to entice a whole new type of client.The ISP market is not dying; it’s undergoing a transformation…Welcome to the world of the application service provider (ASP). As noted earlier, ISPs were primarily created to supply Internet connectivity (dial-up, dedicated, always on access), electronic mail (e-mail), and Domain Name Services (DNS).With a conversion to an ASP, there is a need to house fully redundant server-based services, high-speed data switching, and load balancing that will allow for greater levels of application service and a superior class of ser- vice to their customers. ASPs (not to be confused with Active Server Pages, also known as ASPs) are starting to appeal to businesses by offering a variety of Web-hosted applications that allow businesses to offload functions they do not want to internally maintain, while operating on their main business strategies. ASPs provide software programs that include e-commerce, communications, project management, financial, word processing, and human resource applications. ASPs can offer inexpensive use of software, as the price is usually based on a per- use plan rather than a licensing fee. ASPs also allow users to share utilities from multiple locations. Different types of ASPs can also take care of the complicated functions ranging from Virtual Private Branch eXchange ((V)PBX) systems, Storage Area Networking/Network Attached Storage (SAN/NAS), virtual private networks (VPN), and Network or Remote Operations Center (NOC/ROC) services, as well as a multitude of other services that are covered in this book. Generally, it is more cost effective to leverage these ASP services rather than maintain them “in- house,” which will often stretch the capabilities of an Information Technology (IT) staff.ASPs are rapidly developing as the new Internet business in which to be. Many ISPs are changing their business model to become ASPs.The most suc- cessful of these will deliver applications in a secure, highly available infrastructure www.syngress.com 130_ASP_01 6/19/01 2:42 PM Page 2 www.syngress.com that will provide network support, and implementation and maintenance. For a conversion to be successful, you need to understand the different areas of ASP operations, the infrastructure changes that will occur, and the business issues that will present themselves in this new venture. Why This Book Is for You The ASP industry is still in the developing stages of its life cycle, despite all the hype and attention that it has received since 1998. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide spending for outsourcing services should reach approximately $142 billion by the year 2002. IDC also estimates that the application outsourcing (AO) market, which comprises both application mainte- nance outsourcing (AMO) and application service providers (ASPs), will grow to approximately $16.2 billion in 2003. Forrester Research estimates a substantially more aggressive growth pattern for the AO market, stating that it will reach approximately $21 billion by 2001. This estimate of the AO market is commonly confused with the total income potential of ASP opportunity.According to IDC, the management of enterprise applications by an ASP, a large portion of the total ASP market, is estimated to be $2 billion by 2003. The ASP market began capturing the interest and commitment from a large number of venture capitalists and the telecommunications industry in the late 1990s. Some of the industries that established a presence in the ASP market included “pure” ASPs, ISPs, independent software vendors (ISVs), and IT service providers. At the time, the ASP concept was a formidable choice when compared to traditional business models.As a result, many companies formulated strategies for this emerging market. Early ASPs tended to target small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Forrester Research estimated in 1999 that there were 300,000 emerging enter- prises in the United States with revenues between $40 million to $500 million, and IT budgets of $5 million or less. Based on those projections, less than 5 per- cent of those emerging enterprises in the United States were needed to use an ASP solution to allow it to become a viable market. Due to the enormous growth and earning potential of ASPs, this book addresses the emerging trends shaping the ASP market and the long-term implica- tions that need to be considered for the service provider industry.We will define the ASP market and its dynamics, and evaluate several business models that can benefit established ISPs and help them grow in the lucrative ASP marketplace. An Introduction to ASPs for ISPs • Chapter 1 3 130_ASP_01 6/19/01 2:42 PM Page 3 4 Chapter 1 • An Introduction to ASPs for ISPs Network and Web development companies have, until recently, been sepa- rating themselves from other project-based companies as a way to gain a higher margin. A major concern that exists in this market is the ability to leverage resources and people who have the skills necessary to manage and maintain these businesses. Since it is hard to find the right people to fill positions and pay them accordingly, outsourcing and IT consulting have become very popular ways to maintain your budget and still have a highly capable staff.The same logic holds true for other resources, such as applications that are too costly to purchase a license and keep your overhead low. The ASP concept is the advent of a new computing era, with small to medium-sized companies searching for IT alternatives, and a gradual acceptance among larger enterprises. What This Book Can Do for You This book can help you understand the intricacies that are involved in the migra- tion of an ISP to an ASP. Many benefits and pitfalls will be encountered along the way. With the convergence of software and IT infrastructures, there is a trend toward the Internet or net-centric environment that has enabled the ASP concept to emerge. Software applications have evolved from proprietary, custom-coded applications to prepackaged and net-centric suites. Net-centric software assists in Web-enabled e-commerce, communication, and the management of information. The IT infrastructure has evolved from a self-contained environment to a dis- tributed computing model and now toward a net-centric infrastructure that links multiple areas of operation.The ASP concept is now attainable due to the avail- ability of relatively inexpensive hardware, efficient communication links, and a robust economy. Long since past are the days of predictable local area network/wide area net- work (LAN/WAN) utilization spikes and expected enterprise growth rates. In as such, there will always need to be advances made in software, bandwidth aggrega- tion, and availability to further propel growth in the ASP market. The following paragraphs provide examples of what this book can help you to be aware of. As information travels through the network, users act in response; in many cases, in concert. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Users, by reacting, create what can be compared to traffic jams on Web sites.These traffic jams can overwhelm a site’s servers to the point where only a few cus- tomers can make use of the application or access the Web site.The experiences of www.syngress.com 130_ASP_01 6/19/01 2:42 PM Page 4 An Introduction to ASPs for ISPs • Chapter 1 5 those who are able to connect are so tainted that they will be reluctant to return to the site. No amount of planning can truly make your site or application an undefeat- able titan, but proper planning can make your service a juggernaut. Due to the frictionless nature of the Internet, there will constantly be a mass of users who will have the ability to trigger hit storms on a much more regular basis.These hit storms will become a way of life on the Internet, and will require technology that can transparently respond to such conditions in a predictable, reliable fashion. With this book helping you to understand issues such as this, you should be well on your way to making your ISP into an ASP. Whom This Book Is Written For This book will assist the technical executive who either currently runs an ISP or is working with an ISP and wants to know what it will take to convert an ISP to an ASP.This book will help if you are looking for different ideas on how to upgrade your business model as well as your business, and what it will take in terms of investment; types of personnel and timeframes complete the process.The intention is to give the executive a better understanding of what it is going to take to migrate to this new model. This book will also help the engineer who works for an ISP that is in the process of converting to an ASP model.This book will go into the technical han- dling of issues that you will need to consider in order to convert an ISP from standard bandwidth provisioning to providing complex services.The objective is to address the technical issues with services covered, and what obstacles, changes, and concerns that will crop up when converting to an ASP. Definitions of Common ASP Terms Here are some working definitions and categorizations for analyzing trends and developments in the ISP-to-ASP industry.These are merely suggestions, as readers often have their own definitions. Pure-play ASP (which is defined later in the chapter) examples are hard to find, so this book will use the following defini- tions to give perspective in depicting critical developments within the service provider industry. What Is an Internet Service Provider? An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides access to the Internet. ISPs can provide service via modem, or dedicated or on-demand access. www.syngress.com 130_ASP_01 6/19/01 2:42 PM Page 5 [...]... locally The Pure ASP The definition of a pure ASP is an ASP that joins with a particular ISV, and performs the initial application implementation and integration In doing this, the ASP manages the data center and provides continuous connectivity and support The ASP manages client relationships by acting as a complete end-to-end solution provider It is possible for an ISV to bypass an ASP and work directly... 8 Chapter 1 • An Introduction to ASPs for ISPs The most critical portions of the ASP channel are the ability to include software vendors, systems implementation, integration, and ongoing support.These components encompass the responsibilities that are necessary to effectively create and administer an ASP solution.These responsibilities help define the development of ASPs Because of this, there are new... the larger ASPs have publicly stated that there is a lack of customization and they have limited their implementations to core applications Part of the reason that ASPs do this is because they have negotiated short-term, nonexclusive licensing terms with ISVs, which helps to minimize overhead costs The Elements That Make an ASP Viable What do you need to check to see if the conversion to an ASP is a... the application-hosting role.The ASP will be able to deploy the necessary “horsepower” to an application in an on-demand fashion, in much the same way electric companies draw additional power from sources through arranged agreements www.syngress.com 130 _ASP_ 01 6/19/01 2:42 PM Page 13 An Introduction to ASPs for ISPs • Chapter 1 This creates the opportunity for the ASPs and ISPs to charge higher rates... opportunities Types of ASP Firms There are several types of ASP- enabled firms.These organizations can be separated into professional consulting, project-based service providers, outsourcing providers, staff augmentation providers, education and training providers, and value-added resellers www.syngress.com 13 130 _ASP_ 01 14 6/19/01 2:42 PM Page 14 Chapter 1 • An Introduction to ASPs for ISPs Professional... offerings An ASP is capable of delivering any type of software application, from e-mail and instant messaging applications to an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that can manage, control, and report on the multiple facets of the enterprise.The ASP should be able to provide prepackaged applications, support services, and the ability to tailor these packages based on client needs Generally, the ASP would... Application Outsourcing Application outsourcing (AO) is comprised of ASP and application maintenance outsourcing (AMO), both of which are subcategories of the AO market.The application provider is responsible for the management and maintenance of software applications.The difference between an ASP and an AMO is who actually owns the application An ASP remotely hosts and delivers packaged applications to the... Possible Business Models and Offerings ASPs host services work on an extensive array of hardware, so at any given time that hardware will have a substantial amount of its processing power idle.The ASP will find that this ability to provision and partition that extra horsepower can be the basis for a very valuable and profitable differentiation service offering If an ASP can allow its client to be able to... ultimate intention of an ASP is to allow the client to interact only with the ASP for the services involved.The main elements for this integration are providing the hardware, software, integration, testing, a network infrastructure that is secure, reliable data center facilities, and qualified IT professionals who can manage and maintain these services www.syngress.com 7 130 _ASP_ 01 8 6/19/01 2:42 PM... Provider? The ASP Industry Consortium, an alliance of companies formed to promote and educate the IT industry, offers the following definition: “An ASP manages and delivers application capabilities to multiple entities from a data center across a wide area network.” There are variations of this definition, and sometimes the definition and meanings are confusing.To simplify this definition, an ASP is a third-party . lucrative ASP marketplace. An Introduction to ASPs for ISPs • Chapter 1 3 130 _ASP_ 01 6/19/01 2:42 PM Page 3 4 Chapter 1 • An Introduction to ASPs for ISPs Network. Networks, Inc. www.syngress.com 130 _ASP_ Frwd 6/19/01 2:59 PM Page xxxiii 130 _ASP_ Frwd 6/19/01 2:59 PM Page xxxiv An Introduction to ASPs for ISPs Solutions in