Discusses the application service provider (ASP) model, which is emerging as a new form of application outsourcing. At present, the ASP marketplace is largely vendor driven with huge numbers of vendors offering a variety of applications to the customer. These offerings may belong to software...

IS outsourcing has been a popular topicwithin the IS community over severaldecades. During the 1970s, the term''facilities management'' was used and theemphasis was on service bureau contracts,where companies would rent space on amainframe owned by the vendor.