ASPs and the end of client/server

With the whole world and his wife hailing the advent of a new age of hosted applications - an age which promises simplified management and a reduction in total cost of ownership - the age of client/server seems to be drawing to a close. But Dominic Maher isn't so sure...

When it comes to change, IT departments are in the firing line more than any other. Almost every piece of software installed on the network needs an update on a seemingly never-ending basis. But do these departments need to change the way the network operates? Client/server architectures have become well-established in most businesses. But now the very existence of the model is under threat from Application Service Providers (ASPs). ASPs offer companies access, via the Internet, to applications that would otherwise have to be located in their own personal or enterprise computers. 'Apps on taps' is a phrase you will hear on an increasingly regular basis. Cap Gemini's Mark Roberts has no doubt it will kill-off client/server. In an interview with Silicon.com, he said: "I think it's inevitable. It has to." He explained that users will no longer need to have a fat PC, but a slimmed down version - a thin client with Web access. Access to applications via the Internet would, the theory goes, save companies time and money. One leading analyst thinks client/server should never have happened in the first place. Jon Collins, senior consultant at Bloor Research, said: "Client/server is a mistake. The sooner it's killed off the better." He said the advantage of moving away from client/server is that you no longer need to manage complex applications. But Brendan Major, head of information services at the National Society of Prevention to Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), remains a fan, and has no problem with the management of his client/server set-up. For an organisation whose network carries very sensitive data, he believes in the importance of security. Dealing with programs on a publicly accessible server could cause problems. "It's an attractive model, but it is just an extension of the client/server model," he said. Client/server promised to keep pipes clear by holding applications on a server, but never quite delivered. "We will wait and see how it shapes up and will not be an early adopter," he said. But is anyone actually adopting the model? "There is no real ASP out there. Everyone's talking about it but no one is really doing it," said Cap Gemini's Roberts. However, that is set to change. Forrester Research predicts that the worldwide ASP market will be worth $6bn within the next two years. Every vendor is jumping on the bandwagon and proclaiming themselves to be ASPs. So what will ASPs offer above and beyond the client/server architecture? Traver Greun-Kennedy, director of business development at Citrix and chairman of the ASP Industry Consortium (ASPIC), believes total cost of ownership (TCO) could come down by as much as 65 per cent with the ASP model, and claimed that that will be enough to persuade people to make the leap. The model prides itself on being able to deliver services more cost effectively to users. So without the need to have a high specification PC on each desk, the business benefits are clear to see. Time and money will also be saved with companies no longer having to work out how and when to deploy an application. They can just go to an ASP. ASPs will not kill off client/server entirely though. One technology completely replacing another goes against the lessons of IT history. Mainframes, mid-range, PCs and X-terminals all co-exist in many companies. Nevertheless, Roberts pointed out that the move from client/server to ASP is a far more radical one than from mainframe to client/server. It is, he said, a real chance to reduce the management headache of an entire, complicated infrastructure. "To get rid of all that and outsource it to an ASP has got to be the most compelling model for any business. It frees up your IT staff to go after the more strategic decisions around IT," concluded Roberts.