A hosted service provider (xSP) is a business that delivers a combination of traditional IT functions such as infrastructure, applications (
software as a service
Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software.
SaaS is con ...
), security, monitoring, storage, web development, website hosting and email, over the Internet or other
wide area network
A wide area network (WAN) is a telecommunications network that extends over a large geographic area. Wide area networks are often established with leased telecommunication circuits.
Businesses, as well as schools and government entities, u ...
s (WAN). An xSP combines the abilities of an
application service provider
An application service provider (ASP) is a business providing application software generally through the Web.
The ASP model
The application software resides on the vendor's system and is accessed by users through a communication protocol. Alter ...
(ASP) and an
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privat ...
(ISP).
This approach enables customers to consolidate and outsource much of their IT needs for a predictable recurring fee. xSPs that integrate web publishing give customers a central repository to rapidly and efficiently distribute information and resources among employees, customers, partners and the general public.
Hosted Service Providers benefit from
economies of scale
In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. A decrease in cost per unit of output enables ...
and operate on a
one-to-many business model, delivering the same software and services to many customers at once. Customers are charged on a subscription basis.
Services offered
As defined by analyst Ovum.
* Repeatable business process-led services shared among several clients
* Remotely delivered application services using shared resources
* Infrastructure services (both remotely managed and/or hosted services spanning data centre services, managed servers and databases, performance monitoring, security services, storage services and business continuity)
* Web hosting- the provision of infrastructure and application services to support the hosting of Web sites.
History
Hard Corps, Inc., formed in December 1999 claimed the moniker 'xSP' and began using it in commerce prior to others.
See also
*
Web servers
A web server is computer software and underlying hardware that accepts requests via HTTP (the network protocol created to distribute web content) or its secure variant HTTPS. A user agent, commonly a web browser or web crawler, initiates ...
*
Managed services
Managed services is the practice of outsourcing the responsibility for maintaining, and anticipating need for, a range of processes and functions, ostensibly for the purpose of improved operations and reduced budgetary expenditures through the re ...
References
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Internet access