Imaging & Document Solutions - Tips & Traps: Integrating Through ASPs; Should You Try Windows ME?

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Integrating Through ASPs

By now most businesses are familiar with the standard arguments for using an application service provider (ASP).

- They offer redundancy and high availability for less than the cost of internal systems.

- They allow companies with little or no information technology expertise to completely outsource their infrastructure.

- They offer high-end solutions for companies that can't afford the initial cost of setting up highly scalable, mission-critical infrastructure.

Perhaps the most compelling reason for using an ASP is that it can facilitate communications and workflow between multiple business partners. For example, a manufacturing business calculates that it can work more efficiently if its enterprise resource planning system communicates directly with its suppliers, ordering parts just in time to meet manufacturing needs.

These kinds of integrations are traditionally implemented using either custom systems or XML standards and protocols. The former solution is expensive and difficult. The latter method will only work if both companies have systems capable of handling direct computer-to-computer workflow and are using the same XML standards.

Either way, collaboration requires that one or both companies (or more if the collaboration includes a whole supply chain) implement software that they may not be prepared to implement. A collaborative ASP may be the solution.

Unlike installed software, a collaborative ASP could be retained temporarily, say for the duration of a project. Companies that already have applications and infrastructure in place would not have to replace or add technology in order to do business. Only information intended for use among the collaborating companies would need to be posted to the ASP. Finally, a collaborative ASP could provide tighter integration between multiple companies, acting as a sort of a middleware layer between their applications and resources.

One example of a collaborative ASP is B2Bscene, a spinoff of Open Text, Waterloo, Ontario. The company provides collaborative services for companies such as Hewlett-Packard and its research and development business partners.

"Collaborative services are important for any group of organizations," says B2BScene vice president Dan Latendre. "Collaborative commerce is more than just buying and selling. It includes all the support documents that go into a business relationship."

A company with robust applications and infrastructure could furnish ASP-like services to prospective business partners. In this way, the company furnishing the services could make sure all business communications fit its own internal formats.

Jim O'Reilly, the communications director for the ASP Industry Consortium, warns that there are challenges. "All of the [partners] have to agree on an ASP and the systems it will deploy." Getting agreement may be easier if there are just a handful of companies involved or if one member is large enough to dictate standards.

"A collaborative ASP must also safeguard proprietary or confidential information," O'Reilly adds. Sharing a single ASP-supplied document management system may look good on paper, but a medical consortium, for example, would have to address the danger of patient records falling into unauthorized hands.

If these problems can be resolved, sharing data across an ASP may be an excellent way for businesses to communicate. An ASP can be used to generate shared business processes, shared knowledge and shared efficiencies not available through redundant solutions.

Should You Try Windows ME?

Some may wonder if it's worthwhile upgrading clients to Microsoft's Windows ME. Microsoft is promoting ME as a home user operating system, though it is the successor to Windows 98 Second Edition.

If you attempt to upgrade to ME, you probably won't have to buy new computers or upgrade memory or hard drives. Minimum requirements are a 150 MHz processor or better, 32 MB of RAM and 480 MB to 645 MB of free hard drive storage. On the other hand, Windows ME doesn't seem to include many compelling new features. Internet Explorer 5.5 can be added alongside Windows 9x, and unless you have a burning need for the latest Media Player or Movie Maker applications, Windows ME's new features can be ignored.

One reason to upgrade is to get all the bug fixes that have been made since Windows 98 Second Edition, but Microsoft recommends that businesses use Windows 2000 Professional on their client systems. Based on the same core as Windows 2000 Server, it is a much more capable system for workstations. Windows 2000 Pro is also twice as expensive as Windows ME and has roughly twice the system requirements, making it a favorite with hardware manufacturers.

Our own system administrator found that Windows ME crashed during a clean install, and after that, it couldn't operate for more than an hour without crashing again. Network performance was a dissappointment as well. In light of this, you may want to stick with WIndows 98 SE or switch to 2000 Pro with your next major system upgrade.