ASPs

Application Service Providers

The term Application Service Provider describes companies that supply software applications and software-related services over the Internet. The Application Service Provider (ASP) owns and operates a software application, as well as operates and maintains the servers and employees the people needed to maintain the application.
Subscribing to an ASP allows a company to avoid the purchasing, installing and supporting, and upgrading expenses that go along with software applications. Businesses choose to subscribe to an ASP based on economic factors driven by frequency of use and the cost of entry and maintenance much in the same way a business chooses other service providers, such as shipping or electrical companies. Businesses use shipping and electrical companies to provide services to them because it would be far too expensive for a company to operate its own distribution network as well as generate electricity for its self. Therefore, busi...