A service provider (SP) is an organization that provides services, such as consulting, legal, real estate, communications, storage, and processing services, to other organizations. Although a service provider can be a sub-unit of the organization that it serves, it is usually a third-party or
outsourced supplier. Examples include
telecommunications service provider
Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...
s (TSPs),
application service provider
An application service provider (ASP) is a business providing application software generally through the. ASPs that specialize in a particular application (such as a medical billing program) may be referred to as providing software as a service.
...
s (ASPs),
storage service providers (SSPs), and internet service providers (ISPs). A more traditional term is
service bureau.
IT professionals sometimes differentiate between service providers by categorizing them as type I, II, or III. The three service types are recognized by the IT industry although specifically defined by
ITIL
ITIL (previously and also known as Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a framework with a set of practices (previously processes) for IT activities such as IT service management (ITSM) and IT asset management (ITAM) that focus ...
and the U.S.
Telecommunications Act of 1996.
*Type I: internal service provider
*Type II: shared service provider
*Type III: external service provider
Type III SPs provide IT services to external customers and subsequently can be referred to as external service providers (ESPs) which range from a full IT organization/service outsource via
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 ...
or MSPs (managed service providers) to limited product feature delivery via ASPs (
application service provider
An application service provider (ASP) is a business providing application software generally through the. ASPs that specialize in a particular application (such as a medical billing program) may be referred to as providing software as a service.
...
s).
Types
*
Application service provider
An application service provider (ASP) is a business providing application software generally through the. ASPs that specialize in a particular application (such as a medical billing program) may be referred to as providing software as a service.
...
(ASP)
*
Cloud service provider (CSP) - Software, platform, infrastructure service provider in
cloud computing
Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...
*
Network service provider
Network Service Provider (NSP) is one of the roles defined in the National Information Infrastructure (NII) plan, which governed the transition of the Internet from US federal control to private-sector governance, with an accompanying shift from t ...
(NSP)
*
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...
(ISP)
*
Managed service provider (MSP)
*Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP)
*
Storage service provider (SSP)
*
Telecommunications service provider
Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...
(TSP)
*
SAML service provider
*Master managed service provider (MMSP)
*Managed Internet service provider (MISP)
*
Online service provider (OSP)
*
Payment service provider
A payment service provider (PSP) is a third-party company that allows businesses to accept electronic payments, such as credit card and debit card payments. PSPs act as intermediaries between those who make payments, i.e. consumers, and those who ...
(PSP)
*Cleaning service provider
*Gardening service provider
*Pest control service provider
*Oilfield service provider
*Application software service provider in a
service-oriented architecture
In software engineering, service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an architectural style that focuses on discrete services instead of a monolithic design. SOA is a good choice for system integration. By consequence, it is also applied in the field ...
(ASSP)
*Cable television service provider
See also
*
Identity management
Identity and access management (IAM or IdAM) or Identity management (IdM), is a framework of policies and technologies to ensure that the right users (that are part of the ecosystem connected to or within an enterprise) have the appropriate acce ...
*
Identity provider
*
IP address
An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. IP addresses serve two main functions: network interface i ...
*
SAML 2.0
*
Service bureau
*
Service system
A service system (also customer service system (CSS)) is a configuration of technology and organizational networks designed to deliver services that satisfy the needs, wants, or aspirations of customers. "Service system" is a term used in the s ...
*
Outline of consulting
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to consulting:
Consulting is the activity or business of giving expert assistance on a particular subject, notably to other professionals but also to the consumer market. Th ...
*
Web service
A web service (WS) is either:
* a service offered by an electronic device to another electronic device, communicating with each other via the Internet, or
* a server running on a computer device, listening for requests at a particular port over a n ...
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
IT service management
Business models
Business terms
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