Computer Systems for rent.

• Author: FONTANA, JOHN
• Position: Application service providers

COMPANIES ENLISTING OUTSIDERS TO RUN BULGING NETWORKS

WHEN TWO YEARS WORTH of acquisitions stretched Englewood-based Expanets and the scope of his own IT responsibilities there over a combined 28 companies, Joe Bologna sought an outside specialist to run the computer systems that were draining both his time and focus.

Bologna hired an application service provider catching a wave that has been slowly building in the high-tech industry for the past four years.

An ASP is a company that runs computer systems and rents access to them on a monthly or annual basis. The ASP model involves everything from software to hardware, including servers, operating systems, e-mail, systems management, accounting programs, and Internet-based applications. For Bologna, hiring Qwest Cyber. Solutions brought him peace of mind. And time.

"I know what is tedious and time consuming and takes away from our focus," says Bologna, the director of IT infrastructure and services for Expanets, an integrator of network communications systems. "We wanted to spend time on integrating those businesses and take the technical part out of it. There was no way we could get systems up and running in the time it took QCS to do it."

Now Bologna says he can get new applications running in a month instead of the six to nine months it used to take. And the costs are less.

After a rocky courtship, corporate customers are warming up to ASPs, which promise to get them up and running at breakneck speed and provide the expertise that could otherwise cost millions to cultivate within a company.

The ASP concept, however, has its downsides. A shakeout in the ASP market has sent some providers to their grave. And when ASPs die, they take their

customers' applications down with them.

But with the ASP model passing into its second generation, users are getting savvy in forging relationships with ASPs.

Corporate users are finding that the relevant questions don't center solely on what services are offered but on how soon they can be up and running.

How expensive will it be? How many support people can they afford? How willing are they to trust the security of the Internet? Also, how viable is the service provider? How well funded is it? Can it survive an economic downturn?

"You don't save money using an ASP," says Jeb Bolding, an analyst with Enterprise Management Solutions in Boulder. "Cost may be a factor in the long term, but not up front. It comes down to your lack of expertise with IT, how...