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Targeted mainly at organizations and individuals who can't dedicate resources to day-to-day application management, ASPs will host some or all of your applications, from personal productivity to groupware to ERP. ASPs appeal to small- and medium-sized businesses because they can deliver IT best practices, such as security, backup and disaster recovery. Small office/home office workers can also benefit from access to a convenient set of prepackaged tools that would otherwise be out of their reach.

Telecomputing ASA (www.telecomputing.no), a Norwegian company, has partnered with Uunet WorldCom to provide application services globally over the Internet. The company, founded in January 1997, offers a portfolio of products to customers on three- to five-year contracts for a fixed monthly price. Telecomputing operates the data center, and owns and manages the applications and network infrastructure. The company claims more than 40 customers and contracts worth $7.5 million a year.

The potential for ASPs extends beyond remote-presentation technology. Leading application and infrastructure vendors, such as Cisco Systems, PeopleSoft and SAP, are making significant investments to build this new market. Recently, 25 vendors, including AT&T, Cisco, Citrix Systems, IBM Corp., Microsoft Corp., Sun Microsystems and Wyse Technologies, established the Application Service Provider Industry Consortium. The group will sponsor research, foster standards and promote the benefits of the ASP delivery model. Meanwhile, a Web site--www.aspnews.com--has emerged to report industry developments.