Microsoft has altered its product licensing model to cater for the application service provider (ASP) market, allowing ASPs to rent product and solutions from the software vendor.
Products included in this new offering include Windows 2000 Server, SQL Server 2000, Exchange 2000 and Office 2000 as hosted solutions.
Local ASPs will be able to take advantage of new technical resources, partnerships, licensing and certification programmes in offering Microsoft`s suite of products.
Broadly available commercial licensing models have been released to allow ASPs to offer the Microsoft applications to their customers on a monthly subscription basis. These subscriptions will be based on a per-user-per-month or per-CPU-per-month basis.
Microsoft says these subscriptions have been structured to enable effective ASP business models, while being consistent with traditional Microsoft product licensing.
According to Cyril Belikoff, Network Solutions GM, Microsoft South Africa, this alternative to accessing software applications is expected to create a range of new opportunities for the local industry, as a wide variety of skills are needed to create a successful software-as-a-service business.
"Whether you are a `pure play` ASP or an ASP-enabler with hosting capabilities, an independent software vendor (ISV), solution provider, reseller or systems integrator, customers are going to be driving the demand for ASP services which will need to be filled in the local market," says Belikoff.
With the launch of its Service Delivery Initiative, Microsoft is working with ASP-enablers that provide hardware, networking and other infrastructure such as communication and data centre facilities to ISVs, other ASPs and Microsoft Certified Solution Providers.
Some of the local partners that are involved in Microsoft`s local ASP initiative include Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, Cisco, SAP, JD Edwards, Great Plains, Citrix, The Internet Solution, UUNET, World Online, Siemens Business Services, Telkom South Africa, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Itegral, Global Micro Solutions, Enterprise Outsourcing Holdings, Ixchange and infoVu.
Microsoft is expected to join The Internet Solution, Hewlett-Packard, Siemens Business Services and SAP next week to announce their joint ASP initiative.
Another element of Microsoft`s ASP offering is the development of an ASP Certification Programme. The programme has been developed to provide market recognition to ASP partners that demonstrate consistent, high quality delivery of specific hosted or outsourcing services built on Microsoft technology. The certification programme will help customers and partners identify ASPs that meet a high level of service readiness, competency and capacity for deploying, operating and supporting Microsoft technology.
From a user perspective, a monthly fee typically covers software licensing, support, hardware, backup, security, management and software upgrades for server-based products such as SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange, as well as for the Microsoft Office suite of applications, without having to source hard to find IT skills.
Belikoff believes that while there is benefit for large organisations to adopt the ASP model, particularly as IT skills become increasingly hard to find, it is the small to medium-size organisations that will get the most value from this alternate method of software access.
"By handing over the responsibility of their IT solution or part thereof, these organisations that are traditionally hard-pressed for time and money are able to focus on their core business and not IT issues."
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