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The best of 'Reader Comments': Killer ASPs and India's IT resources
Each week silicon.com is inundated with comments from you, our readers.

By editorial@silicon.com

Published: Friday 10 November 2000

The last seven days have seen some controversial events, and we kick off with readers' strong reactions to a series of stories about how robust the ASP model will be (http://www.silicon.com/a40701 ).

--End-to-end reliability?
From Chris Hughes

So the ASPs have shiny new fault-tolerant servers that host their apps reliably...

But what percentage of corporate desktops have an internet connection that delivers connectivity right through to the ASP-hosted server, across a multi-hop public routed infrastructure, with the same reliability? In my experience, none.

There are so many variables in the equation, so many possible points of failure/congestion.

Until meaningful QoS implementations are available over the public net and through private
corporate WANs, ASPs can't deliver anything close to the level of availability required by corporates. Just because it's internet-based, doesn't mean it's a good idea.

--Bandwidth poor UK to blame
From Matthew French

If a company is really worried about availability then why not use a leased line/VPN and the internet? This way they can share the common infrastructure of the internet with a (supposedly) more reliable dedicated line.

In both cases the real problem in the UK remains the lack of adequate and accessible bandwidth. Large companies can easily afford the high-speed lines most applications require, but smaller companies cannot.

--The current ASP fallacy
From Haydn Rees, IP services consultant

The term 'ASP' is a marketing abstraction anyway. No single organisation on the planet complies with the full definition of 'serving client server applications remotely across a network from a datacenter'.

Any entrant to the market is too busy scrambling for the many-to-many strategic partnerships, negotiating interlocking SLAs, and sorting out their value proposition to offer a mature product yet.

An 'ASP' will be the organisation who presents you with an invoice and fronts the value chain.

--ASPs - but not where there's open source software
From Iain MacKay, responding to comments and an ASP initiative from PeopleSoft

The observations from PeopleSoft are correct only so long as the ASP is offering access to expensive proprietary software. Where there are open source alternatives then ASP costs become directly related to the cost of infrastructure, services and marketing. If in due course an Open Source alternative to PeopleSoft emerges then an independent ASP can offer it competitively.

--Cleopatra like a modern network?
From Tony Ferrand

An asp did for poor Cleopatra but I shudder to think what might happen if it had to be delivered across a haphazard network of tinny telephone lines, fuzzy fibre optic links, random routers and stray servers.

--Not overly optimistic...
From Terence Murphy

The ASP model as a business concept is flawed from the start. Business critical applications risk being locked into either a failing or non-competitive companies. The control available to the IT director will be minimal and I'm sure the response to individual companies' needs in many cases will be less than satisfactory.

And as government e-minister Patricia Hewitt toured several Indian cities last week with silicon.com in tow (http://www.silicon.com/a40653 ), we published a series of articles documenting her visit and how it relates to the skills shortage in Europe. These pieces elicited the following mix of comments...

--The skills gap - a suggestion
From Darren Gray

Should we not be lobbying the government to make additional contributions to students attending university to encourage people to take IT-related degree courses? We did this for teaching when we had shortages in the technical subjects, so why not now?

--Don't look east - choose home grown
From Anna Rendall

In seeking to import IT talent from India, the UK is taking out a crippling intellectual mortgage on its poorly maintained IT sector. At last week's world IT.com conference in Bangalore, Indian ministers proclaimed that co-operation between the UK and India would be cemented by historical relationships, remaining quiet on the lure of the UK as a thriving and remunerative working environment.

Our ecommerce minister is neglecting the potential for IT-hungry companies to upgrade the skills of existing employees, subsidising such investments by a myopic £200 a head, hardly a firm endorsement of IT experts from the UK or overseas. Indian IT professionals will become disillusioned when they realise that the UK, for all its ardour in courting foreign developers, has little interest in developing their careers. Moreover, bidding for Indian talent can only get fiercer, with no doubt as to who can pay top dollar.

--And some misconceptions
From Nrupesh Jhalla

IT investment within India has given a big boost to the Indian economy, and neither US companies nor the Indians appear to feel guilty about the issue of brain drain, so it is puzzling why this is brought up in press articles. The issue of brain drain is not India's main problem, as development of the country is dependent on numerous other factors, e.g. scale of foreign investment, management at all levels, government controls, etc.. And brain drain affects many countries, including the UK.