And "virtualized"? ASP (Application Service Providers) were going to Change The Computing Environment. Googling for "application service provider" gets 2.3 *million* hits. Their *actual* impact? You tell me.
Their impact can't be measured because it spread out into niche markets. Like blogs and wikis and all those photo sites. And my company's network with 1,000 customers and PoPs in 20 countries all doing 100% ASP traffic. ASPs businesses are thriving. However, the crystal ball gazers who hyped them back in the late 90's just got it all wrong because they thought ASPs would displace MS-Office desktops and SAP installations. The fundamentals of the ASP industry is that there are companies providing their customers mission critical services over a shared IP network, whether it is the public Internet or a single operator network like ours. It's big business and if you dig into what your customers are actually doing with their Internet connections, you will find it there. --Michael Dillon