SIIA Whitepaper: Understanding The ASP Market

"The migration to ASP-hosted or Web-enabled software is inevitable," said Ken Wasch, SIIA president. "Removing software from local hard drives enables the use of thin clients over PCs, pay-per-use models, wireless access and provides real-times patches and upgrades without consumer involvement. For software publishers, ASP creates faster time-to-market, the ability to personalize the product and a consistent subscription-based revenue stream not dependent on new releases."

"ASP is emerging as a leading application deployment option for a broad range of business customers," continued Wasch. "For large companies, ASP streamlines enterprise applications that aggregate large amounts of data. Small and midsize businesses benefit from lower initial costs of licensing, allowing unprecedented opportunities to use new software without a significant investment risk."

The whitepaper, called "Understanding the ASP Market," provides comprehensive insight for ISVs planning to transition a shrink-wrap product to an ASP-hosted service. The report also covers critical background information such as an overview of the development of the ASP market and specific ASP factors such as reach, speed, predictability and cost. In conclusion, the whitepaper provides a 10-step checklist to help ensure a successful ASP market entry for traditional ISV companies.

The ASP Working Group of SIIA provides a neutral forum for software vendors and application service providers to examine and develop business models, delivery options and best practices for software licensing. Members of SIIA's ASP Working Group include: Bertelsmann, Buyonet, Channelware, Citrix Systems, ELF, Individual Software, Into Networks, Intraware, J.D. Edwards, JDL Technologies, KPMG, Outlook Technologies, PCFirst.com, Science Center International, ShareAPhoto.com, SoftChoice, Softsearch, Sun Microsystems, WRQ and Xevo.

SIIA is the principal trade association of the software code and information content industries. SIIA represents more than 1,000 leading high-tech companies that develop and market software and electronic content for business, education, consumers and the Internet.