A recent study commissioned by the
ASP Industry Consortium shows that this method of delivering software programs via the Internet is just beginning to make inroads into the business community.
The definition of an ASP as stated by the
ASP Industry Consortium is the following:
The
ASP Industry Consortium (ASPIC) has commissioned the largest-ever study of the multi billion dollar Application Service Provider (ASP) market, with the aim of measuring worldwide supply and demand for ASP services.
allaboutasp.org, a site maintained by the
ASP Industry Consortium, a trade group:
ASP Industry Consortium Benefits of Application Hosting www.allaboutasp.org
The
ASP Industry Consortium (www.allaboutasp.org), a trade organization representing ASP providers, offers a simple but complete definition.
The
ASP Industry Consortium, which currently has over 700 members in 28 countries, is an international advocacy group that aims to promote the ASP industry by fostering open industry standards, sponsoring research, establishing guidelines and encouraging best practices.
By May 1999, 25 companies had joined a newly formed
ASP industry consortium. That number had grown to 178 by the time of the consortium's first conference in November of that year.
So advanced is the take-up of the Application Service Provider approach that an
ASP Industry Consortium was formed in 1999 to "foster research and establish technical specifications and best practices among ASPs".